


Lineage

by NorthernGhost



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Coming of Age, F/F, Family Drama, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:20:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 42,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29270151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NorthernGhost/pseuds/NorthernGhost
Summary: The world is a much different place nearly 60 years after Aloy defeated HADES. With GAIA fully rebuilt, and a new civilization that spans coast to coast, the world Elisabet Sobeck hoped to rebuild is truly taking shape. Some, however, feel threatened by this progress, and so turn to a warped perversion of the very thing that brought humanity back to life. The third generation of the new Sobeck line must now race to stop this corrupted AI bent on undoing GAIA and Elisabet Sobeck's greatest achievement.
Relationships: Aloy & Elisabet Sobeck, Aloy/Talanah Khane Padish, Elisabet Sobeck & Original Characters, Ikrie/Anukai (OC)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 11





	1. To Walk in Storms

**Author's Note:**

> For real this time.
> 
> Welcome to the next saga in this weird little AU of Horizon Zero Dawn that began all the way back with _Duality_. While there's been 6 "solo" stories so far that set things up, if you're just finding this now, probably the easiest jumping on point you'll need is to check out Imagine0314 and I's collab project: [Came New Life](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26534272/chapters/64677847) (and by extension the addendum [Coming of Age](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29112765/chapters/71465781)).
> 
> This project isn't quite the same type of collab as the two above, however to me it truly is a collab with Imagine in every way except for only one of us is physically writing the words down. All of the ideas that have gone into this have arisen between the two of us, and it truly would not exist without her.
> 
> Similarly, even though Imagine and I may be crazy for falling this far down the rabbit hole, we have to thank people like J_Schaeffer, Sacred, and CraxyD for following along and showing as much enthusiasm and interest as us. Y'all are some of the big reasons we do this.
> 
> Just like before, should be a new chapter every Sunday/Monday.
> 
> Also, as a random plug, if you ever want to find me on a place that isn't AO3, I technically have a [Tumblr](https://thatsgonnabeanogho.tumblr.com/) (thatsgonnabeanogho).
> 
> Anyhow, without further ado, this is the next chapter in our version of the Sobeck family's story, _Lineage_...

The world flashed a brilliant white for a moment before immediately returning to a near-total darkness. Not long after, a loud, echoing boom reverberated off the stone walls on the outer edge of the mesa. A single, small figure approached the edge of the rain-soaked balcony, where the cover of the floor above left a clear line on the ground between the steady downpour and shelter. As the boy came to a stop just a foot or so from the line, another flash of light, accompanied by an even louder boom, washed over the world, reflecting off his light blue-grey eyes and prompting him to take a cautious step backward.

As the echoes of the thunderclap began to fade, a different sound seemed to rise with the rain in its place. The boy paused before glancing back to find another figure a few yards behind, remaining close to the nearest stone wall.

“Why’d you come?”

The cowering figure, a girl, remained silent for several long moments, half of a pale face hidden behind a veil of auburn hair, before replying, voice barely audible over the downpour on the stone surfaces ahead of them.

“Because you did.”

The boy sighed, glancing back toward the soaking balcony behind him before approaching the girl, coming to a stop before her.

“You don’t have to do everything I do.”

“I can.”

Suddenly, another loud thunderclap, this time close enough to shake the stone structure around them, split the air, prompting the girl to let out a shriek and quickly skitter back along the wall, farther into the cover of the building behind her. The boy quickly stepped forward, finding her with her face turned to the wall, her left hand clenched into a tight fist against it, as well.

“Let’s go back.”

“No!”

The girl whirled toward him, attempting to straighten up, but he could see how her entire chest shook and heaved with each breath.

“Lani…”

“I’m—I’m not afraid,” she managed. “Not if you’re not.”

The boy sighed, and began to turn back to the balcony, walking to the edge of the rain barrier before pausing, only to take a deep breath and step into the rain, itself. His sleep clothes were almost instantly soaked through, but he pressed onward, approaching the stone railing at the edge of the balcony and coming to a stop, gripping the small, stone pillars that supported the banister just at his head level.

A moment later, he leaned his forehead against the bottom of the banister, staring down at the darkened ground hundreds of yards below. He could just make out the lights of part of the lower settlement through the dark haze of the downpour, along with a few lights farther out into what he knew to be the farmlands; these lights farther away, however, appeared to move slowly, and while those of the settlement glowed a warm orange, they shone a brilliant blue.

The sound of footsteps in the growing puddles on the balcony beside him drew his attention away from the scene below to find Lani, hair now soaked and plastered to the sides of her face, coming to a stop beside him, gripping the stone pillars as he did, but with notably trembling fingers.

“Those machines?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah.”

“Do you think they get hit?”

Just then, a loud thunderclap, possibly the loudest yet, sounded overhead as the entire world turned a brilliant white, only for both children to stagger back from the railing. The boy blinked against the blinding light he had just seen, only to find the image of the auburn-haired girl suddenly huddled on the ground beside him, arms wrapped tightly around her knees.

“It’s okay,” he said quickly, kneeling beside her.

“I-I’m… just leave me alone, Kal.”

He hesitated beside her before slowly placing a hand in the center of her back.

“Didn’t come near us, anyway,” he said quietly.

“Was _that_ loud…”

The sky rumbled, yet again, as Kal glanced up to see a single bolt of lightning shoot from the sky overhead, arcing all the way to the ground. Shortly after the sound of the thunder had abated, he heard a different sound, one that was much more… unnatural. Curiosity tried to drag him forward, but he hesitated, glancing down at the huddled form beside him before taking a deep breath and rising to his feet, moving to the banister.

As he did, he noted how one of the blue lights he had seen before seemed to be missing.

“Lani, I think it got one of them!”

When he turned back to the huddled form on the ground behind him, however, he found that the auburn-haired girl was no longer kneeling or crouching down, but lying on her side, curled into a ball. He took a deep breath before hurrying back to her huddled form, crouching before her.

“Come on, we’re going back.”

Lani nodded, seemingly unable or unwilling to fight back, as the boy rose to his feet, offering a hand. A moment later, she took it, using it to help pull herself to her feet, before they both made their way back under the cover of the building overhang. Once out of the actual rain, they both attempted to shake as much of the water off themselves as they could, but another loud thunderclap sent the auburn-haired girl running forward toward a partially-open doorway.

“Wait!”

Kal hurried to catch up, only to skid to a stop before the open door as he found it blocked by Lani with her arms wrapped around the waist of a taller figure.

“You’re both soaked,” the red-haired woman said, sighing as she rubbed at the back of the girl’s shoulders while also glancing toward him. “Come on, we’ll get you cleaned up and dried off.”

He hesitated for a moment, glancing back at the balcony as another thunderclap sounded and Lani let out a short cry of surprise, but it quickly faded as she seemed to move farther into the building.

“You like it?”

Kal jumped at the sound of the voice right behind him, turning around to find a woman with shoulder length, dark hair kneeling behind him, a towel held in her hands. He nodded as she grinned, reaching forward and vigorously rubbing at his hair as he half-heartedly tried to push her motions away.

“I do, too, you know,” she said, stopping her assault by fabric a moment later, lowering the towel into her lap, again. “I grew up in the mountains—both of us did, Mama and me. You should have heard it there.”

“Was it loud?”

“Shake your whole body loud.”

The woman grinned as she wrapped the towel around Kal’s shoulders, releasing it as he took hold to keep it in place before him.

“Was a lot colder there, though,” she continued. “I’ll take these warm storms any day, now.”

With a sigh, she adjusted her position, raising to one knee.

“Come on, let’s dry off before you catch a cold, though.”

“Is that real?”

“Maybe,” the woman shrugged, grinning, “but I’m not taking any chances.”

The world flashed a brilliant white for a moment before immediately returning to a near-total darkness. Not long after, a loud, echoing boom reverberated off the rocky slopes of the towering mountain ranges on the northeastern edge of the Sundom. A single, rain-soaked figure draped in a dark cloak shifted his position under the branches of a tall evergreen, the late summer’s worth of needle-loaded branches providing a slight respite from the downpour that coated the darkened landscape. He hadn’t lit a fire, as it would have been too visible in the darkness, so instead he huddled under the dark clothing in the hope that it would somehow help him stay dry and warm.

As the next gust of frigid air and stinging rain blew beneath the lowest branches of the tree he sat against, he knew that was merely a fantasy.

A moment later, a soft, synthetic chiming in his ear drew his attention as he frowned slightly, his brow furrowing before he reached one hand from under his cloak, tapping at the small, triangular device beside his hear. A web of lines, numbers, and boxes made of light appeared about him, but one in the center, glowing orange, drew his attention. Sighing, he reached forward to tap in the center of it, another synthetic chime ringing in his ear before it gave way to a voice.

“I’m bored.”

With a roll of his pale eyes, he leaned back against the tree trunk behind him.

“I thought the point of this was no comms,” he replied.

“It’s an encrypted channel. You saw that.”

He shook his head, slowly, letting out a heavy sigh.

“I thought we agreed to take this seriously.”

“Sure, but also seriously, why would I do anything like this alone?”

The figure laughed, hanging his head for a moment as he swore he could see the smirk on the face of the caller, even from nearly a mile away.

“Maybe we need to work on your dating prospects, Lana.”

“You think any of the guys and girls I’ve met in Meridian would spend three days like this?”

The figure shrugged, smirking.

“Meridian-born? Probably not…”

“Kal, we’re Meridian-born.”

He laughed, shaking his head.

“You know what I mean.”

A muted laugh came over the call as another clap of thunder reverberated off the mountainous slopes. Almost immediately, a small yelp came through the Focus and Kal smirked.

“Guess tonight’s good for you in multiple ways.”

“If you’re making fun of me because of the thunder, I swear on the Sun I’ll—”

A moment later, another loud clap interrupted her and the call went silent. Kal waited for a few moments, but Lana’s voice didn’t return. Clearing his throat, he shifted his position against the tree.

“You okay, Lana?”

A rustling sound came over the call before his sister’s voice returned.

“I will be.”

The dark-haired boy’s jaw worked for a moment as he adjusted his position to sit up straight against the trunk behind him.

“You sure? I can—”

“I will be _fine_ , Kal.”

Silence hung over the call for several long moments as more distant thunder rumbled. Finally, the boy sighed, letting his body relax against the tree, once again.

“If you say so.”

Silence hung over them for another minute or so, Kal’s pale eyes scanning over the dark shapes of the trees in the distance, jutting from the ground like claws of a massive, angry Rockbreaker trying to dig its way out of the mountain. As another clap of thunder split the air, his eyes were drawn to the jagged, rocky peaks of the next mountain in the range. It was late in the summer, and far too early for snow, so the harsh, grey bedrock was easily visible in the flashes of lightning.

A moment later, Lana’s voice appeared in his ear, once again.

“I wouldn’t mind talking, still… though.”

Kal grinned as he folded his arms over his chest and crossed his legs at the ankles, before him.

“You think Fiy and Santi are going to find it, first?” he asked.

“They’re Meridian-born,” Lana replied, a playful lilt in her voice. “I’m betting whether they’ll even last outside the entire three days.”

“Come on, now,” Kal laughed. “They did all of the same training we did.”

“I know, I know…” she sighed. “I hope they don’t find it first, though, or we’ll never hear the end of it.”

“This is true,” he nodded, “and don’t forget the wager before we left.”

“I am _not_ paying for whatever unholy-expensive drinks they want to order when we get back.”

“You’re going to pretend like you wouldn’t do the same?” Kal chided.

“Why do you have to be the way that you are?”

“You’ve had almost twenty-three years to get used to it,” he shot back.

“And yet you still find new ways to frustrate me.”

A moment later, another flash of lightning lit the mountainside, but as it did, Kal’s eyes locked on to a dark shape in the opening between sets of trees along the lower slope below him. Immediately, he sat up straight, away from the tree behind him, as the clap of thunder echoed about him.

“Lana, I’ve got eyes on it.”

“What? Where?”

“About a mile to the… northeast,” he said, glancing toward the various peaks and landmarks he had set to get his bearings. “Moving between a patch of trees.”

“Shit… that’s getting close to where the other two were camped out…”

“True, but there’s also a lot of open ground between here and there,” Kal continued, beginning to gather his equipment from nearby. “Lots of time for it to see either of us coming.”

“So how do we make an approach?”

The dark-haired boy waited for a few moments until another flash of lightning lit the landscape in a brilliant white, catching sight of the same, dark shape now moving through the next set of trees, heading vaguely westward.

“It’s moving away from me,” he said. “I can follow behind, hopefully avoid visual detection, at least.”

“And I’m in front of it, so…”

“So don’t get seen.”

Kal smirked as he fastened the last of his equipment about his person and rose to a kneeling position.

“Going quiet.”

With that, he tapped his Focus and drew a deep breath. His eyes scanned over the open ground between himself and where he had last seen the silhouette of the machine, plotting a vague course in his head before rising to his feet and setting out from his shelter under the tree and into the rain-drenched darkness beyond.

Almost immediately, Kal’s head moved on a swivel, scanning the open ground around him as he moved at a jog through the night, watching for any signs of lights or motion around him. After a little over ten minutes, he began to approach the first set of trees where he had first seen the machine, earlier, and slowed his pace. One hand warily reached toward the strap of his weapon across his chest, ready to swing it free at a moment’s notice.

During his run from his original campout, he hadn’t been able to fully track the machine’s path, and a part of his mind told him to be wary that it might have doubled back, or moved in a circular patrol, instead. As he moved along the outer edge of the trees, he continued to scan the spaces between all of them, searching for signs of motion, but the sway of branches and the plants in the undergrowth made it hard to discern what was simply scenery and what was his target.

After a few minutes, he had reached the edge of the small grouping of trees and paused just before the open gap where he had seen the machine earlier. Kal’s eyes scanned over the open ground for several long moments before he reached up to tap his Focus, bringing the interface to life around him. Even after further scanning, he didn’t find any tell-tale outlines in blue or orange light hinting at the machine’s position, prompting him to frown.

Turning his attention from the trees and open space ahead of him, he instead glanced toward the ground, where he was just able to make out the hints of footprints sunken into the damp earth. Taking a deep breath, he moved forward, cautiously approaching them before glancing down at the one he had stopped beside. The main pad of the machine’s foot had left a depression a good several inches deep in the ground, while four, smaller points had dug up the earth before it, marking the machine’s claws.

Following the direction of the claws, he noted that the steps continued off to his left, moving around the side of the trees that had faced his campsite earlier. Just before he marked the trail with his Focus, however, he paused, the thought that the machine had travelled intentionally in his line of sight passing over him for a moment.

“No way it saw me…” he breathed, before inhaling deeply and setting the tracking with his Focus.

Once he closed the interface, the tracks still remained outlined in a soft, purple glow across the ground, leading him farther along the trees ahead of him. With one last glance around the open area, he set off after them, moving closer to the tree-line to provide a quick escape into some kind of cover, should he need it. As he moved, the bright flashes of lightning overhead continued, and the rain only seemed to pound harder, as it picked up from a steady drizzle to something rapidly approaching a downpour.

“Just a little hunting exercise in the mountains… just before autumn…” he muttered beneath his breath, curling his fingers into fists before relaxing them several times to try to stave off the feeling of bitter cold that was beginning to sink into them.

After several long minutes, he had reached the end of the next section of trees, at the cusp of a hill that began to slope away from him. Kal came to a stop beside the last of the darkened trunks beside him to gather his bearings and scan for more signs of the machine. As his gaze swept the much more open and exposed landscape, he noted that his Focus continued to track the footsteps forward, through the center of the most exposed ground.

“Why would it do that…?” he muttered, brow furrowing in thought.

As his gaze followed the apparent path of the tracks, another loud clap of thunder split the air, accompanied by a brilliant flash of lightning. The momentary burst of light, however, revealed his answer.

Near the bottom of the sloping ground ahead of him, a dark, mostly ruined structure sat amidst a much larger, thicker patch of trees that extended up the slope of another mountain behind it. It appeared to be made of stone and twisted chunks of metal, leading the hunter to infer that it was something quite ancient, rather than a recently-abandoned outpost. Just in front of this ruin, however, the flash of lightning reflecting off the dark metal of a lithe machine, the color turning almost purple for a moment, before the flash of light faded.

Kal quickly tapped at his Focus, bringing the interface to life, but even then, it didn’t highlight the shape of the distant machine.

“Shit…”

With a deep breath, he navigated through the interface of light before him until he had re-established the encrypted call from earlier. After only a single, synthetic ring in his ear, the other voice picked up.

“Into that ruin, right?”

“That’s what I saw,” he replied.

“Meet me at the edge of the trees, a couple hundred yards north of it,” Lana said.

“That’s specific…”

“I’ll send you the exact tag through your Focus,” she sighed, the eyeroll apparent in her voice.

“Sounds good.”

With that, Kal closed the call and waited for a moment or two before a soft chime sounded in his ear and a yellow diamond appeared overlaid on top of a section of trees to the side of the ruin. With a smirk, he closed his Focus interface before taking off across the open ground. Once again, he moved at a jogging pace, not wanting to be caught out in the open for too long, but gave a wide, arcing berth to the ruin while constantly keeping an eye on it for signs of motion. Finally, after a few minutes of jogging through the rain that had picked up into a steady downpour, he came to a stop beside the trees, slowing to a walk and glancing around.

When he finally reached the exact spot his Focus had indicated, he stopped, turning in place, but he didn’t find signs of another person. With a frown, he opened his Focus interface, once again, checking the location, but he had been right to begin with, prompting him to sigh and attempt to open the call, once again.

“Lana, now is not the time for—”

Something suddenly grabbed the weapon on his back and pulled on it sharply, prompting him to stagger for a moment before whirling around, one hand instinctually reaching for the knife on his belt and drawing it in a single motion. As he completed his 180-degree turn, holding the knife ready in one hand, he froze at the sight of a smirking face beneath the soaked hood of a dark cloak before the darkened underbrush.

“Reflex check,” Lana teased.

Kal muttered a curse under his breath as he sheathed his knife, once again, sighing as he turned back to his sister.

“Is now really the best time for that?”

“Relax, it went in there and hasn’t come out,” she shrugged.

“That you’ve seen… we don’t know what kind of massive holes in the walls exist in the back or sides of the ruin,” Kal shot back. “Could be right over there, right now.”

He gestured toward the forested area beside them, prompting Lana to glance toward it for a moment before shrugging, again.

“Anyway,” he sighed, “it went in the front, right?”

“Yeah, couple of minutes ago,” she replied, turning back to him and nodding.

“Any idea what kind of building it is?” Kal asked, turning to face the ruined structure as Lana moved beside him.

“No idea. Appears to be rather large, though.”

“If a machine can fit inside it, most likely,” he said, nodding slowly.

“What’s a Scorcher doing this far south, though?” Lana asked, glancing over at her brother with raised eyebrows. “I mean… I know they like fire, but… thought they tended to overheat in warmer climates.”

“Weather’s getting colder,” Kal shrugged. “Easier to migrate.”

“Machines don’t migrate like birds, Kal,” she sighed.

“No, but this is one GAIA can’t get to respond, so perhaps there’s more than a few things abnormal about it,” he shot back, raising his eyebrows, as well.

Lana sighed, shifting the strap of her own weapon across her torso before glancing over at her brother, once again.

“Well… so how do you want to handle chasing down the abnormal Scorcher?”

Kal’s jaw worked for a moment or two in thought before he nodded toward the left side of the ruined structure.

“Let’s see if there’s a way in from the side.”

Lana nodded and he sighed before leading the way into the underbrush. Under the cover of the trees overhead, the rain became less pounding on their hoods, but the ground quickly turned muddier and less stable, eliciting a soft squelching sound with each step, the earth even threatening to tug Kal’s boots off a few times.

Finally, however, they reached the side of the ancient structure, and Kal scanned over it, shielding his eyes with one hand as he glanced up toward its top, a good ten or more yards above his head.

“What would have needed to be so big out here?” he muttered.

“May not have been so ‘out here’ back then,” Lana said, coming to a stop beside him and mirroring his motions.

Kal chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment before nodding.

“Still strange to think about.”

As he glanced toward his sister, he found her nodding in agreement, but her gaze seemed vacant for a moment longer before she blinked several times and glanced back down at him.

“Don’t see an opening, though.”

He shook his head.

“No, let’s keep going along the side.”

Turning toward the back of the structure, Kal led the way along the stone-and-steel construction for about twenty yards before he came to a stop, gesturing for Lana to halt, as well. As he heard her footsteps come to a stop, he gestured to something just ahead of them. The hints of an opening in the stone wall were just visible ahead, but from the current angle, it was hard to tell exactly how wide it was. Regardless, Kal pressed onward, listening intently for the sounds of the heavy machine footsteps just on the other side of the wall, or for other signs, such as the building beginning to crumble around them.

A few moments later, he reached the opening and found that it wasn’t a narrow, impassable slit, but it also wasn’t quite as wide as a full person. Staring at it in thought for a moment or two, he glanced over at Lana, raising his eyebrows.

“Think we can squeeze through?”

She glanced toward the opening before laughing dryly and turning back to him.

“I can, maybe,” she said. “Don’t know about you.”

“Please,” he scoffed, stepping toward the opening and shooting her an admonishing look, “you and I are equally as thick, particularly in this season.”

Lana reached out to deliver a smack to his shoulder, prompting him to laugh before approaching the opening and turning sideways. Taking a deep breath, he removed his weapon from over his shoulders to hold it to his side before stepping into the gap. As he had expected, it was rather narrow and multiple pieces of rock and metal tugged at his clothing, but he managed to make it through with no tears in the fabric or blood drawn. Once on the other side, he let out the breath he had been holding and glanced around, throwing the strap of his weapon over his shoulders before raising it to a ready position as he heard the sounds of Lana beginning to make her way through the opening.

A few moments later, he heard the sound of fabric ripping and a muttered curse before several staggered steps echoed about the room. Kal glanced back to find Lana holding one hand to her lower back, grimacing before pulling her hand away to reveal a small, several-inch tear in her cloak.

“Break the skin?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“Good, probably won’t die of blood poisoning, then.”

Lana made a face in mocking before also readying her weapon, holding it at a half-ready position before her and glancing around. Kal turned his attention back to the room, noting that it was nearly pitch black inside, prompting him to reach for his Focus. With a few quick taps to the interface, he had activated the Low Light mode, highlighting the scenery about them in white lines of light. As soon as they popped into existence, however, he jumped, raising his weapon toward a shape to their right. Lana startled in surprise, as well, spinning in place beside him as he caught her weapon raise to a firing position out of the corner of his eye.

After a long second or two, Kal realized the shape that had prompted him to raise his weapon hadn’t moved, and he slowly began to lower it, curiosity creasing his brow.

“What is it?” Lana whispered.

The hunter slowly stepped forward, tilting his head to the side slightly as he began to move to the side of the shape.

“It’s… not quite a Frostclaw,” he muttered, “but looks kind of like one…”

“Not a machine?”

“No.”

The sound of Lana sighing came from behind him as he also heard the sound of her returning her weapon to a more idle position.

“Scared the shit out of me, Kal,” she hissed.

“Well… this scared me, so…” he shot back.

Lana sighed as he heard her footsteps approaching a moment later.

“What was this place, then?” she muttered.

“Seems… like a… memorial, maybe?” Kal replied, glancing around and noting the various shapes about them that seemed vaguely reminiscent of some machines.

“Why would they have a memorial to things that hadn’t existed yet?”

Kal suddenly paused as he nodded slowly, gesturing to the shape he had thought was a Frostclaw moments ago.

“Not to machines, to the animals the machines now are based on,” he said. “Remember? GAIA based all of the designs on things that came before.”

The outlined shape of Lana glanced toward him for a moment before glancing back up at the shape beside them.

“Well… perhaps a little fitting that Scorcher wandered in here, then.”

Kal laughed dryly as she turned back to him.

“Maybe.”

A moment later, the sound of a heavy thudding and crashing drew their attention, both siblings whirling toward the far side of the room and raising their weapons at the ready. No signs of motion immediately greeted them, however a moment later the sound of growling echoed from deeper in the building, prompting them to glance toward each other, once again, despite the darkness.

“Go silent,” Lana whispered, and Kal nodded in agreement.

With that, they began to steadily make their way farther into the darkened building, taking care to make as little sound as possible, although the footsteps from their boots against the hard floor inevitably echoed at least somewhat. When they came to a large set of doors at the end of the hallway, Kal reached toward one, attempting to push on it, but it seemed stuck in place, whether from centuries of rust or debris, he wasn’t sure.

Turning back to Lana, he shook his head and gestured back the way they had come. Just as they began to walk away, the sound of a loud groaning and creaking came from behind them and they both froze. A moment later, as the sound intensified, they whirled in place, aiming their weapons toward the doorway, only to find the right side, which Kal had pushed on a moment ago, leaning precariously away from them.

All sound seemed to disappear from the world for a moment until the door finally gave in and crashed to the floor with a loud bang. The sound was almost like a physical force that slammed into Kal as he recoiled, his heart rate skyrocketing as he breathing quickened. Glancing toward Lana, he nodded behind them.

“Go, now!” he hissed.

His sister didn’t argue, but turned and began running toward where they had entered, Kal following behind. At the gap, however, she turned to the right, skidding around a turn in the hallway and continuing farther into the building. The dark-haired hunter skidded to a stop for a moment, glancing after her as he weakly gestured to the opening before letting out a quiet growl of frustration and taking off after her.

When they reached the end of this next leg of the hallway, they found the doors had already collapsed, and were easily able to continue through them, however Lana didn’t slow her pace until she had suddenly ducked through another side door on the right side of the hallway, leaving Kal to follow after her. As soon as he entered, he slowed to a stop, as Lana was simply standing in the center of the hallway.

“Why didn’t you leave?” he whispered, approaching her right side.

Almost immediately, Lana held her hand up to him, gesturing for him to be silent, and he came to a sudden stop. The room was long and somewhat narrow, but other than what appeared to be still pieces of ancient furniture scattered about it, he couldn’t make out any signs of motion or other immediate threats. Instead, he listened intently for some hint of what had caused her to stop so suddenly. Just as he was about to begin moving, once again, the sound of a low thudding came from the other side of the wall to their left and both sibling quickly turned their heads toward it, but otherwise remained still.

Kal found himself holding his breath out of reflex, but his lungs were already beginning to burn as his heart pounded in his ears. Just as he began to exhale, the sound of several plodding footsteps came again, this time moving farther along the wall, in the direction of the hallway they had recently vacated.

Judging by how the ground shook with each sound, it was indisputably a machine, although based on its slow, methodical movements, Kal suddenly began to wonder if the Scorcher wasn’t alone. His gaze met the outlined shape of his sister’s face for a moment before she nodded farther along the hallway, in the direction away from where the machine was heading.

Wordlessly, they began to creep forward, taking care to roll each step so that their boots made as little sound as possible on the hard, debris-covered floor. When they had put a good ten yards or so between themselves and the doorway, Lana slid to the left behind one of the larger pieces of furniture and Kal followed her, pressing up against its surface on her left side. A moment later, he tapped his Focus, bringing the interface to life around him as he turned his head to look back in the direction of the machine’s sounds, but he found no familiar outlines of light that gave away its position.

“It’s not on the Focus,” he breathed.

“Blocking signal, somehow,” Lana confirmed, equally as softly.

Kal tapped the device beside his ear, once again, closing the rest of the interface but leaving the low-light navigation overlay active. After another few long moments, he glanced over to find Lana leaning around the side of the furniture, watching the other end of the hallway attentively. Both hunters remained silent for another several long moments before Lana leaned back into cover, resting the back of her head against the surface behind her for a moment before turning to her brother.

“That our Scorcher?” he whispered.

“Yeah… think so,” she nodded. “Think it’s not alone?”

“Beginning to have my suspicions…”

A moment later, they both froze as the sound of heavy, clanking footsteps came from the hallway outside, once again, but most definitely approaching from the opposite end from where the Scorcher had last been seen. Both of them quickly raised their weapons, gripping the dark metal tightly as they listened. The steps moved behind them before coming to a stop on the opposite side of the wall. After a few seconds of silence, a synthetic chirping came through the surface, and Kal leaned his head back against their cover.

He felt Lana shift beside him, but neither said anything until the sounds of the second machine had wandered back in the direction it had come.

“More than one,” Kal breathed.

“It led us into a trap,” Lana shot back.

“If it knew we were even following it,” he said. “Could have been a routine patrol.”

“Like you said, though,” she replied, elbowing his arm gently, “these machines are abnormal.”

With that, they moved away from their cover, raising their weapons to a fire-ready position before carefully stalking farther along the room where they had taken cover. When they reached another door that had fallen into the hallway beyond, they both slipped to either side, pressing against the walls as Kal nodded and carefully leaned out first, glancing both ways up and down the hallway before nodding and taking the first steps into the new space.

A flash of lightning lit the space from a gaping, former window at the far end of the hallway, but it only revealed more debris scattered about the floor. Kal did note, however, that part of the ceiling at the far end had fallen in and he could see part of the floor above them through it.

“Amazing this place hasn’t caved in already,” he muttered.

“Don’t curse us,” Lana shot back, moving carefully behind him as he led the way toward the open ceiling he had spotted.

“Just be careful,” he replied. “If those machines start charging or firing, nothing’s secure here.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Kal smirked as they came to a stop at the edge of the collapsed portion of the building. The ceiling overhead was long gone, as well as part of the wall to their left, however it did provide a convenient climbing path.

“Go up?” he asked, glancing back at Lana.

“Why do we need to go up?”

“Scope out more of the building,” he shrugged, “also see if there’s any more friends upstairs.”

“Shouldn’t we take out the ones we know are down here, first?”

“More light up there,” he replied.

“You just really want to go exploring, don’t you?” Lana sighed.

“I can’t deny that my curiosity is piqued,” Kal smirked.

Suddenly, the sounds of heavy footsteps echoed down the hallway, once again, and they both whirled toward the far end, raising their weapons. A few moments later, the general shape of a large machine appeared around the corner, almost entirely invisible against the darkness of the building. Almost immediately, however, another flash of lightning poured through the window directly behind the hunters, prompting both of them to freeze in place.

The machine at the far end came to a sudden stop, its gaze clearly fixed on them, even if they couldn’t make out its eyes in the darkness.

“Don’t see us, don’t see us, don’t—” Lani began to mutter under her breath.

She was cut off, however, when a pair of red eyes suddenly illuminated on the front of the machine, followed soon after by jets of flame that erupted from its back, almost fully illuminating the Scorcher in the middle of the narrow hallway ahead of them.

“Fuck.”

A moment later, the sound of a booming, mechanical roar echoed down the hallway as Kal swung his weapon behind his back, once again, spinning to his right and leaping toward the first handhold on the collapsed portion of the wall. As he began to pull himself up toward the next level, the sounds of Lana’s weapon firing reverberated about them, but almost immediately, the reports were followed by the metallic pinging of the ammunition bouncing off the body of the attacking machine.

“Not gonna work!” he shouted over his shoulder, glancing back to find Lana swinging her weapon behind her back, as well, moving toward the ledge where Kal was currently climbing.

A moment later, he had managed to pull himself onto the next slab of broken stone that had at one time been the floor of the second story, scuttling out of the way to allow Lana room to climb up after him. As he glanced back down into the hallway behind them, he saw the Scorcher bounding closer, while Lana was just beginning to climb out of the way. Cursing under his breath, Kal reached into a pouch on his belt and drew out a small, blue orb. Squeezing the small buttons on the side, it began to glow like a bright, almost sky blue in his hand before he wound up his throw, drawing his right arm behind his head. A moment later, he hurled the small explosive into the hallway just before the charging Scorcher.

As soon as it made contact with the ground, a cloud of chillwater sprayed into the air, quickly coating the floor and nearby wall with a thin layer of ice. The machine faltered for a moment, seemingly as if hesitating against the cloud of freezing substance before it, before its metal paws slipped on the frozen ground, sending the Scorcher careening into the wall to its right.

Kal immediately winced, noting how the stone surface easily crumbled under the impact, kicking up a cloud of dust that filled the hallway, along with the chillwater. While the machine was momentarily thrown off track, he whirled back to his sister, grabbing one of her arms and helping to quickly haul her onto the stone slab with him.

“This place is ready to fall apart with any hit,” he panted, nodding toward the machine.

“So maybe that’s what we do,” she replied, glancing over at him. “Bury all of them.”

Kal’s lips pulled into a thin line.

“That’d take a lot of explosives, still.”

“Or we get our friend down there to do it for us.”

The siblings glanced back down at the Scorcher that was quickly recovering from its slide a moment ago, its red eyes locking onto them as the flames on its back seemed to burn hotter for a moment.

“Seems like a real bad idea, but we can’t stand here,” Kal shot back. “Let’s go.”

With that, they took off up the slope of debris before them, each scrambling for purchase as the sounds of the now enraged Scorcher attempting to reach them echoed about the ruins around them. After several long moments of desperation, Kal reached the top of the slope first, clambering onto the flat surface of the intact second floor before reaching back to help pull his sister up after him. When they were both standing on the open floor, they glanced back down toward the Scorcher below, finding it just beginning to claw its way onto the slope where they had stood moments ago.

“Kal, you got explosives?”

He nodded, reaching into a separate pouch on his belt before holding a small, orange orb out before him.

“Send all this shit down on top of it.”

He glanced at Lana curiously for a moment before she gestured to the debris beside them and a look of realization dawned on his face. Squeezing the small buttons on the sides of the handheld bomb, he drew his arm back before hurling it at the top of the slope. The resulting explosion sent both hunters reeling backward, clapping their hands over their ears, but the blast had done its job. The mass of stone and metal debris began to shift and slide downward, like a small avalanche, as the floor began to tremble and buckle beneath the siblings, as well. They quickly scrambled backward, farther into the building, before the entire portion of the floor where they had just stood gave way, falling forward with a loud rumble and careening toward the pursuing machine.

A few moments later, the noise settled, but they both stood still, waiting for hints that the machine had survived the onslaught, but none came. Finally, Kal crept toward the edge of the now-collapsed floor, craning his neck to search for any signs of the Scorcher, but the hunk of rubble at the bottom of the slope showed no signs of movement. He did note, as well, that part of the outer wall had also seemingly been knocked aside by the collapse, revealing more of the rain-soaked exterior.

“It dead?” Lana called from behind him.

“Seems to be,” he replied, turning back to her. “One down.”

“Who knows how many to go…” she sighed, shifting the strap of her weapon until she held it before her, once again, checking over it for a few moments before holding it at the ready.

“If one’s abnormal…” Kal began, readying his own weapon.

“The rest are, probably, too,” Lana finished. “There’s at least one Watcher we heard.”

“Let’s hope the rest are small like Watchers,” he said, stopping before his sister and smirking, “or maybe some Scrappers.”

The auburn-haired girl rolled her eyes before nodding toward the hallway behind her.

“Come on, let’s take a look farther inside.”

As they made their way farther into the building, once again, they kept their weapons held in firing positions, but they didn’t immediately come across signs of other machines. More of the rooms on the second floor featured gaping holes in the walls or the ceiling that let in a faint hint more of light from outside, although with the heavy downpour still ongoing, much of the moonlight was obscured by the heavy cloud cover, making the low light modes of the hunters’ Focuses a continued necessity.

When they had seemingly made their way to the center of the building, they came upon a large, circular room with a towering, domed ceiling where a few sections had fallen in, allowing a steady drizzle of water to pour through under the pitch black night sky visible through them. As the siblings approached a half-destroyed railing at the edge of the upper floor overlooking the ground floor below, the sounds of synthetic chirping and heavy footsteps echoing from below prompted both of them to drop to crouches, inching closer to the edge of the upper floor with much more care to their footsteps. When they reached the dilapidated railing, they came to a stop, glancing through the still standing support bars to note two shapes moving in the darkness below.

Faint, yellow lights seemed to sweep across the floor, but they were too far apart to be the eyes of a single machine.

“Two Watchers,” Kal whispered, glancing over at Lana to see her nodding in confirmation.

When he glanced back down, one of the machines suddenly moved into the center of the room, stopping in place before craning its neck and sweeping across the far side of the circular space with its single, large eye.

“Hit ‘em from here?” Lana asked, shifting her position slightly to hold her weapon closer to her chest.

“No clear shot at the eyes,” Kal replied, shaking his head. “Not an efficient kill.”

“All about efficiency now…” she shot back in a somewhat mocking tone.

“We’re nowhere near camp,” he pointed out. “We should try to conserve ammunition as much as possible.”

“Okay, Mr. Sensible.”

Kal rolled his eyes, but remained silent as he settled his position against the former banister, staring down at the machines below them while waiting to see if the Watchers would change their positions. A few moments later, the one in the center of the room turned to its left, seemingly satisfied that it hadn’t seen anything, and began to plod off into another wing of the building, its companion following shortly after it.

“Dammit…” Kal breathed, sinking to a kneeling position as he lowered his weapon somewhat. “They’re not going to make this easy.”

A moment later, he froze as he felt the telltale signs of the ground shaking beneath them and he quickly turned in place, his head swiveling about as he searched for the source of the heavy footsteps. Finally, his eyes settled on the faint hints of white lights moving amidst the jumble of shapes through a doorway only a few yards farther along the curved walkway.

“Oh, come on…”

Lana glanced over at him and he pointed toward the doorway, prompting her to spin around, only to let out a low sigh, herself.

“Two Scorchers…” she grumbled.

“When we get back home, we’re definitely telling Gramma about this,” Kal whispered.

“Fiy and Santi are so buying us drinks, too.”

They both exchanged one last glance before bumping each other on the shoulder with a closed fist and turning back to the newest machine target nearby. The doorway through which they had seen the Scorcher was too narrow for it to fit, so thankfully it made no attempt to exit onto the second floor balcony with them, but they still moved cautiously as they approached, eventually taking positions on either side of the opening, once again.

As soon as they were in position, Lana reached for something attached to her belt, unclipping it and holding it before her. With a few deft twists of something atop the item in her hands, it suddenly seemed to pop open, with five narrow “arms” extending outward in a vaguely star-like pattern. Sparing a glance toward Kal, she took a deep breath before glancing into the room beside them and sliding the device across the floor with enough force to send it into the center of the space.

The Scorcher suddenly seemed to halt at the noise, turning from its patrolling pattern to make its way toward them, once again, its eyes beginning to glow yellow from within its dark metal body, providing an image that sent chills down Kal’s spine; the pitch-black body was only visible as an outline from his Focus, while the yellow eyes seemed to almost float on their own amidst the darkness of the room, like some kind of apparition.

As the machine drew closer to the device Lana had thrown earlier, Kal reached into one of the pouches at his belt, gripping one of the smooth orbs within as he saw Lana prepare her weapon out of the corner of his eye. A moment later, the Scorcher seemed to reach the trap, as a burst of brilliant, blue light suddenly illuminated the room, bolts of electricity shooting across the machine’s metal body and freezing it in place for a moment.

Seizing the opportunity, Kal removed the bomb from the pouch, yanking a sling free from the other side of his belt simultaneously, as he squeezed the buttons to arm it. A moment later, he had loaded it into the sling, drawing the strap taught before releasing it directly toward the center of the machine’s body. The explosion lit the room in a bright flash of reds and oranges, while the shockwave caused the floor to shake beneath the hunters, images of the floor giving way earlier flashing before the dark-haired boy’s eyes as he braced himself to run, if need be.

Luckily, the floor did not begin to give way moments later, but the Scorcher seemed to be quickly recovering from its stunned state. Just then, however, Lana slid into the open doorway, dropping to one knee as she raised her weapon and took aim. The next moment, the darkened space exploded with flashes of light and sound as the weapon began to fire rapidly. Kal was able to catch hints of sparks flying form the machine’s body for a moment or two before one of its eyes suddenly seemed to sputter and go out.

The Scorcher recoiled for a moment, only to stand its ground, once again, as bright orange flames suddenly flared from its back, illuminating the room and momentarily confusing the siblings’ Focuses and removing the guiding lines of the low light mode. A moment later, Kal noted that the machine had turned toward the doorway, and he quickly grabbed the back of Lana’s cloak, tugging her backward as he began to backpedal toward the far side of the balcony.

His sister reacted to the motion, scrambling to her feet, but a moment later the Scorcher smashed through the doorway they had taken cover beside moments ago. As the cloud of dust and debris filled the air, Kal began to feel the balcony’s floor tremble and buckle, definitively. Cursing under his breath, he continued to pull Lana back toward the other section of the building where they had entered the circular room, but the two of them were only able to take a few steps before the sounds of the Scorcher bounding after them echoed about the space.

A moment later, both siblings dodged in opposing directions to their current path, Kal rolling across the ground to his left while Lana dove to her right. The dark-haired boy popped to his feet quickly, turning back to face the Scorcher as it attempted to skid to a stop, its metal claws digging into the stone floor beneath it as it tried to slow itself. A moment later, however, it turned toward Kal, its remaining red eye focused on him almost immediately.

“Come on, I wasn’t even the one who shot out your eye,” he muttered, reaching for another bomb in the pouch at his belt.

As his hand was stuck inside the container, however, the flames on the back of the machine began to glow brighter, and he let out a loud curse, diving to his left, once again. A burst of flame shot past the soles of his feet, where he had been standing a moment ago, before crashing into the far wall. The flames curled outward from the initial impact point, but quickly died out as they had no real source of fuel to maintain them. Kal’s jaw clenched as he scrambled to a kneeling position, reaching for the bomb at his waist, once again. This time, he was able to pull it free, loading it into the sling in his other hand and taking aim at the machine.

As soon as he released it, however, the realization that he may have made a poor choice of weapons overcame him. He was forced to watch, seemingly in slow motion, as the orange orb arced through the air until it slammed into the face of the Scorcher. A moment later, the shockwave from the explosion ripped across the balcony, bringing with it a synthetic howl from the machine, along with a loud creaking and groaning that quickly drowned out all other sounds.

Kal desperately scrambled to his feet, attempting to look for some kind of exit off the balcony between him and the Scorcher, but the nearest door was the one directly beside it, where he and Lana had first attempted to escape. Cursing loudly, he simply ran toward the wall to his left as he felt the first parts of the balcony floor behind him give way.

As he ran into the hard surface, he quickly whirled toward the Scorcher to find it staggering on its feet, attempting to turn toward him, but its motions seemed halting and jerky, already. A moment later, Kal saw the first pieces of the balcony begin to give way at the far edge, the remnants of the banister falling away toward the ground below.

The hunter’s gaze quickly flicked between the machine to his left and the rapidly collapsing floor, until finally the falling portions of the stone structure seemed to reach the back foot of the Scorcher. Almost immediately, the machine staggered again, scrambling for purchase on thin air behind it for a moment or two before its dark form began to slide backward into the rapidly growing hole behind it. Seizing his moment, Kal quickly darted along the wall to his left, racing toward the door that had previously been beside the machine. As he ran, he saw a shape that he assumed was Lana racing toward the same spot, from the other direction.

Just as he reached the door, she did, too, and they nearly collided, the auburn-haired girl skidding to a stop before glancing off Kal’s right shoulder. He quickly reached to grab part of her cloak, pulling her after him into the room beyond the balcony. Once inside, his foot caught on something and he felt himself tumbling forward, attempting to release Lana’s clothing in time, but he could feel that his weight had pulled her toward the floor with him.

Before he could raise his arms, he met the stone floor with his chest, immediately knocking all of the air from his lungs. A split second later, Kal’s head snapped forward and his chin clipped the stone floor, as well, sending a shockwave through his skull and prompting a sound somewhere between a growl and a groan to tear its way from his throat. His vision swam for a moment, as well, before he quickly attempted to lift himself to his hands and knees.

As he did, he glanced to his right to find Lana also just beginning to rise from the ground, her jaw clenched tightly as her eyes were squeezed shut, as well.

“Okay?” Kal managed between wheezing gasps for breath.

“Landed on something…” she replied through gritted teeth.

The dark-haired boy moved toward her, placing one hand on her shoulder as she straightened to a kneeling position. He quickly noted that her hand was held over her left side and he glanced toward the ground before her. After a moment of scanning the slightly blurred lines presented by his Focus’s low light mode, he wasn’t able to make out anything of note amidst the jumble of shapes.

“Fuck,” Lana wheezed, beginning to pull away her hand as she sucked in a breath through her teeth. “I think that’s going to need stitches…”

“What? What is?” Kal asked quickly, reaching toward the spot where her hand had been a moment later.

As his fingers pressed against her cloak, she let out a small yelp in pain, but even as he pulled his hand back quickly, he had felt enough to know that the clothing was wet with a new, warm substance, rather than just the rain.

“Shit, I think I might have a field dressing, hold on,” he muttered, reaching for a small container attached to his belt.

As he began to search for the bandages by feeling in the darkness, the sounds of additional groans and rumbles about them prompted him to pause, glancing up toward the ceiling.

“Think we shook this old ruin a little too much,” Lana quipped dryly.

“Okay, we’re getting out of here. Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

With that, Kal scrambled to his feet, grabbing his sister’s arm and helping pull her up, as well, to the sound of a drawn-out groan from her. Almost immediately, her hand pressed against her side, once again, and she muttered more curses under her breath.

“Did it puncture deep?” he asked, beginning to lead the way toward the far side of the room, retracing the path they had followed earlier.

“No idea, but… hurts way more than just a little cut,” Lana replied. “Still better than falling and being crushed, though."

Kal’s lips pulled into a thin line as he remained silent, raising his weapon and leading the way back down the series of hallways they had traversed to reach the circular room. Finally, he saw the faint hint of light spilling from around the corner of the hallway ahead and he glanced back toward Lana, who was trailing behind by a yard or two.

“Almost there, come on.”

Just then, the sound of a deep cracking echoed about them and Kal froze, his head whipping around as he tried to look for the source of the sound, but it was too dark and the low light mode didn’t reveal many hints.

“Not good,” he muttered, regardless, and lowered his weapon, hurrying back to his sister. “We’ve gotta get out of here, now. Hold on to me.”

“I can still move, Kal,” she shot back.

“Not fast enough, I’m afraid,” he said. “We’ve gotta run.”

Lana nodded, taking a deep breath before Kal began to set the pace, placing an arm around her shoulders and helping propel her forward. As they reached the turn in the hallway ahead, the cracking and groaning had grown louder, and the dark-haired boy swore he could feel the ground shaking slightly beneath his feet.

As they turned the corner, he quickly noted the collapsed area ahead of them where they had encountered the first Scorcher. Gritting his teeth, Kal redoubled his efforts to get Lana to run until they reached the end of the floor, where part of it had fallen away in the earlier explosion. Unfortunately, it didn’t directly connect with the top of the slope they had climbed earlier, leaving a gap of just over a yard or so of empty air.

“We’re gonna have to jump,” he said, releasing his arm from around Lana. “Gonna be able to?”

“Going to hurt like hell,” she groaned.

“Better than being crushed under all this rock.”

Lana grumbled a response that seemed to be in the affirmative as Kal took a deep breath, backing away from the edge of the floor to give himself some lead room before running forward. As he reached the edge, he pushed off with his right foot, propelling himself toward the edge of the broken wall at the top of the slope. A moment later, his foot caught the edge and he found himself staggering forward onto the slope, nearly sliding down it, almost immediately. As he caught himself, he carefully made his way back to the edge, looking back toward Lana.

“All right, your turn,” he called.

He could hear her mutter something under her breath, but it was unintelligible from a distance. A moment later, she ran forward, as well, leaping toward the broken wall. Lana also landed atop the slope, but unlike Kal, she quickly pitched forward and began to stagger and slide down the pile of debris toward the bottom.

The dark-haired boy quickly spun around and followed after her, watching carefully until he saw her stop against a portion of the outer wall still standing. A few moments later, he skidded to a stop beside her, panting as he glanced back toward the rest of the building behind them.

“You good?”

“No worse.”

“Works.”

With that, he led the way out one of the former windows before them, hopping the short distance to the ground outside. As he turned back to the building, Lana followed him, but immediately collapsed to her hands and knees as she let out a growl of pain. Kal quickly moved beside her, attempting to help pull her to her feet, but she didn’t seem to be trying, herself.

“Give me a fucking second, Kal!”

Just then, the sound of a strange, mechanical chirping rang from nearby and he spun around, only to find two large, yellow eyes glowing from the underbrush a few yards away. As the Watchers’ eyes turned red, Kal quickly raised his weapon, taking aim at the machine on the right and unloading several rounds into its eye. Almost immediately, the light extinguished as he heard the machine crash to the ground, but its partner seized its moment and began to charge forward.

As Kal attempted to turn his weapon toward it, as well, the machine suddenly braced itself to leap into the air, prompting the hunter to curse loudly and drop to the ground, shoving Lana down behind him with one hand, as well. A moment later, the machine sailed over them by less than a foot, crashing into the outer wall of the ruin behind them to a surprised, bleating call. Kal quickly rose to a full kneeling position, once again, as he whirled toward the Watcher, firing several rounds into the metal of its neck, but it seemed to do little to deter the machine, which had begun to struggle to its feet, once again.

The dark-haired boy paused his firing for a moment until the Watcher finally turned back toward him. The world seemed to drop into slow motion for a moment as he brought the tip of his weapon in line with the large, red eye, and fired two shots directly into it. Time returned to its normal speed as the light flickered and extinguished, the whirring of the machine’s innards slowing as it finally fell still.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Kal lowered his weapon, swinging it behind his back, before turning back down to Lana beside him.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Fine… you know… since you shoved me into the ground,” she shot back, beginning to rise to her hands and knees, once again. “Not like I’m injured or anything already…”

“Figured you could handle it more than a Watcher to the side of the head,” he replied. “Come on, let’s get some cover and I’ll dress your side.”

With that, he finally managed to drag Lana to her feet, once again, pulling one of her arms over his shoulders and pulling her with him deeper into the undergrowth. As they walked, the sounds of the groaning and crashing ruin behind them continued to echo throughout the forest, almost like some mammoth creature letting out its final death cries before succumbing. When they came to a stop against a particularly large tree, Kal lowering Lana to a seat against it, he noted that the sounds had seemingly stopped.

Sweeping around with his weapon raised, the dark-haired hunter didn’t note any signs of more machines approaching, so he lowered it, once again, turning back to his sister. As he knelt before her, he quickly began to dig through the supplies on his belt until he finally found the field dressing kit. Pulling the items free, he turned back to Lana, pressing them into one of her hands.

“Going to need some light,” he said.

“Thought… we were trying to keep a… low profile,” she groaned.

“We were, but going to be hard to bandage a wound I can’t see.”

As he began to rise to his feet to gather supplies for a small fire, Lana prompted him to wait. He glanced back toward her, watching as she dug into something on her own belt before holding it up before her. With a few flicks of her thumb, a small flame sprung to life from the top of the lighter. Kal smirked, kneeling down beside her, once again, as he took the field dressing kit back.

“Of course,” he quipped.

“You know I… always have it on me…” she replied, leaning her head back against the tree trunk behind her as she held her other hand over the flame to protect it from the rain that still filtered through the canopy overhead.

With the light, Kal was able to finally investigate how bad the wound was, carefully pulling her tunic up until he could see the entry site. As he uncovered the puncture wound, he grimaced, noting that, like she had said earlier, it wasn’t just a small cut, but it thankfully didn’t appear incredibly deep. It was enough to soak her outer clothing and smear a vibrant, red stain across her skin, however.

“This is going to sting a little,” he sighed, grabbing the small container of antiseptic and pouring it over the wound.

Lana sucked in a forceful breath through her teeth, but otherwise remained silent as he continued to clean the wound and surrounding skin. A minute or two later, he had done as much as he could, instead turning to apply a numbing paste to the site. After another minute or so, he prodded at the skin near the wound, glancing up at her face.

“You feel that?”

“Barely.”

“Good.”

With that, he drew out the small needle and medical twine, drawing a deep breath before setting about stitching the wound together. Despite the numbing, Lana still squirmed slightly at the action, but kept her jaw firmly shut as he worked. As Kal’s fingers went about the motions, he tried to draw on memories of learning how to sew his own clothes and toys back together with his mother, blocking out the exact thought that it was human flesh, and his sister’s, at that.

Finally, he finished and cut the last piece of the twine, leaving the sutures as neat as he could manage. Sighing, he sat back on his heels, beginning to return the supplies to the small kit.

“It’ll hold for now,” he said, “as long as you don’t do some crazy acrobatics.”

“I was thinking of cartwheeling all the way home,” Lana quipped, laughing roughly.

Kal rolled his eyes but pulled her tunic back down, reaching to grab a nearby leaf from one of the plants to wipe his hands clean.

“That numbness is going to feel good for a bit…” she sighed.

“Well, we’ve got some hintergold if you need something to take the edge off later.”

Lana nodded, shifting painfully against the tree trunk behind her before letting out a heavy sigh.

“So… I take it we got the machine we came here for?”

Kal laughed, taking a seat against the trunk beside her.

“I think we got it, and a few more.”

“Too bad we didn’t grab a trophy,” Lana sighed. “Fiy and Santi aren’t going to believe us.”

“We’ve got the Focus feeds,” Kal shrugged. “We’ll have GAIA pull them and then we can show them.”

“Good… because I really didn’t want to fuck up my side and then _still_ owe them drinks.”

The siblings laughed, Kal rolling his eyes as Lana tentatively put a hand to her side, before seeming to think better of it and letting it fall into her lap.

“Set up camp and head out in the morning, or start back now?” he asked, once the laughter had subsided.

“I’d very much prefer not to start moving right now.”

Kal nodded, shifting his weapon so that it lay across his lap, while drawing his cloak about himself, closing the front to try to block out the worst of the water still drizzling from overhead.

“I’ll take first watch.”

“Sounds like a plan.”


	2. Patchwork

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not an 11k monster this time, chapter length is gonna vary throughout, though.
> 
> Time to introduce some new faces and (re)introduce a familiar face.

When the morning sun finally began to rise, the rain had stopped, although the forest still remained as damp as it had all night. Both siblings had eventually dozed off, leaving no one truly awake by the time they began to rouse, with Kal awaking first. Smirking, he woke Lana and helped her to her feet, the auburn-haired girl moving stiffly for the first few minutes until she seemed to settle into more natural motions, although he noted how she still occasionally moved to rub at her side.

“Hurting?” he asked.

She shrugged in response, prompting him to grab some of the ground hintergold he had mentioned earlier, handing it over. Lana dumped some of it into her mouth before taking a swig from her canteen, grimacing at the bitter flavor as she swallowed.

“If we make good time, we could reach the pick-up site by mid-afternoon.”

“Sure we can’t just signal them from here?”

“Our Focuses aren’t going to be strong enough to broadcast that far with all this rock,” Kal shook his head. “Going to need the booster at the pick-up.”

Lana grumbled an unintelligible response, but didn’t press farther as they made their way out of the forest around the pile of rubble that once been the ancient ruin, entering the open grasslands of the mountain slopes, once again. The bright sunlight that poured over the valleys and slopes was a welcome change from the chilled rain of the night before, making the walk slightly easier, although the occasional cool breeze that buffeted them, chilling their damp clothing even further, tempered the relief somewhat. To the credit of the recently-injured redhead, she kept up a rather aggressive pace beside Kal, refusing to give a sense of slowing them down.

As the sun reached its highest peak, they came to a stop on the crest of yet another small hill, each of them staring down toward a small lake in the distance, separated by the downhill slope and a strip of forested ground before them.

“Guess you were right,” Lana said, glancing over at her brother. “Early afternoon.”

“Almost like I knew what I was talking about,” he shot back, smirking.

The two of them resumed their pace, making their way toward the edge of the trees below. As they stepped under the canopy, they once again went on alert, holding their weapons at the ready, as the thick underbrush and tree trunks blocked their lines of sight for potential threats nearby. While most machines were docile enough, they would still become agitated if a human came a little too close, particularly the protectors of the grazing machines.

As the night before had shown, as well, even more were beginning to behave erratically, as well.

For most of their childhoods, the siblings had seen machines in a form of peaceful co-existence with people, however they had heard many stories from their family of the times when that was not the case. Kal had seen his mothers’ faces contort in concern too many times at the notion that this peace may be waning, once again, to not take this change lightly.

When they finally broke free of the trees within an hour or so, the shore of the lake greeted them, prompting both siblings to relax somewhat. Kal tapped his Focus, scanning along the waterfront until he saw a signal radiating from near the ground, off to their right, the purple, concentric circles pulsating almost like a heartbeat on the device’s interface. He nodded toward it and led the way across the small stretch of grass until they reached the waterfront. As they approached the signal, he knelt down, removing the covering of branches, grass, and other such debris that hid the small, metallic cylinder stuck into the ground.

As he pressed a button the top of it, a green circle appeared in the center of his Focus’s interface, slowly filling until it completed the shape, at which point it flashed several times.

“Stormbird Actual, Glinthawk and Scrapper requesting pick-up at the waterfront, over.”

After a few long moments of silence, another voice suddenly rang in his ear, distorted slightly over the Focus connection.

“Copy that Glinthawk. Just picked up Sawtooth and Ravager, so will circle back to get you, as well. Should be a short ETA.”

“Copy that, thanks.”

With that, Kal tapped the Focus, once again, and sighed, covering the device in the ground and rising to his feet.

“Killing you that you couldn’t use Stormbird, isn’t it?”

He glanced over at Lana to find her smirking at him, arms casually folded over her weapon, held diagonally across her torso before her.

“Wouldn’t make much sense for a Stormbird to get picked up by a Glinthawk, would it, though?” he shot back.

“Still… killing you.”

Kal rolled his eyes.

“Shut up.”

A few minutes later, the sound of a throaty rumbling echoed across the water and they both turned to glance toward the entrance to the valley on the far side. As they did, a dark shape suddenly appeared around the mountainside, banking through the air before barreling down on their current position. The siblings watched as the VTOL slowed its speed, circling around them so as not to blast them with the heat and force of its engines, and finally coming to rest on the ground about ten yards away.

Lana and Kal quickly made their way toward the back of it, stepping onto the ramp that had lowered after touchdown. As they stepped inside the back of the craft, it began to close almost immediately. The space inside the VTOL was much darker than it was outside, leaving the siblings blinking for several seconds until their vision adjusted, finally revealing the cargo storage area that was currently rather empty.

They quickly made their way toward the ladder at the far end of the space, climbing to the upper level, and finding themselves in a long room with a shorter ceiling sporting rows of seats on either side of the hull. Two of them near the front end were already taken as the siblings moved toward the two on the opposite side. Falling into their seats, Kal tapped his Focus.

“We’re set back here.”

“Copy that. Hold on for take-off. ETA one hour to home base.”

Kal sighed, drawing the safety restraint across his lap and clicking it into place before removing his weapon’s strap from over his shoulders, flicking the safety switch on before balancing it casually on the ground against the seat to his left.

“Rough night?”

His eyes focused on the dark-skinned girl across from him, her light brown eyes boring into his with a playful glint.

“Could say that,” he replied, his voice echoing slightly in his own Focus, as there would be no way to actually hear each other otherwise over the rumbling and roaring of the engines that shook the VTOL. “You’d think you didn’t just spend the night out in the rain, too, Fiy.”

“You didn’t even have the worst of it,” Lana chimed in, shifting her seat to lift up the bottom of her tunic slightly, revealing the stitched wound.

Both girls across from them winced, sucking in breath through their teeth.

“What happened?” the other girl asked, her bright, green eyes wide, seeming to stand out particularly against her much more mud-stained, olive skin.

“Fell on something in an old ruin,” Lana explained, lowering her tunic, once again. “Still alive, though, Santi.”

“You went playing around in an old ruin?” Fiy jabbed, smirking.

“Well, the rogue machine didn’t want to play out in the open,” Kal shot back.

“You did _not_ find it,” she replied, narrowing her eyes at him.

“We did,” the dark-haired boy smirked, “and a few of its friends.”

“Prove it.”

“Once we get back, I’ll have GAIA pull the recording and then you can see,” he said.

“Well, until then, I don’t believe you,” Fiy replied, smirking.

Kal laughed before sighing heavily and settling into his seat as the VTOL began to bank to the left, the craft shaking slightly on the winds whipping around the mountain peaks. Within a few minutes, his eyes had slid closed and he found the sounds of the engines had faded away, until something hit his right arm forcefully, prompting him to jolt awake.

“I seriously don’t get how you can sleep through that,” Lana quipped, smirking as she unbuckled her restraints and rose to her feet, grimacing as she placed one hand to her side.

“Just means I trust the pilots,” Kal shot back, unbuckling himself and moving to follow the other three toward the open ramp at the back.

As soon as he stepped into the sunlight pouring through it, he was hit by the wave of heat that signaled they had left the chilly mountain climate behind. Despite the fact that autumn had begun to fall for a good several weeks, in Meridian it was hardly different than summer, sometimes, and today appeared bound to prove that. The smell of the VTOL’s fuel hung heavy in the sweltering air immediately upon stepping out of the craft, although the deafening sound of the engines had been replaced with the general noise and bustle of the military camp around it.

Technicians dressed in heavy, wool clothing, their faces obviously coated in sweat, were already making their way toward the flying machine, dragging various tools and supplies with them, offering nods and quick greetings to the returning members of the hunting party as they passed. Just past the edge of the packed dirt that made up the landing zone for the craft, the flow of foot traffic increased, with more technicians, repair workers, and occasional hunting and training parties winding their way amongst the still, metal forms scattered about them.

Lana remained in the middle of their group, notably trying to avoid the worst of the jostling of the flow of bodies moving in the opposite direction, particularly as they moved at her left side. As one of the technicians began to bear down on them with a heavy crate held before him, Kal noted how both his path and the cargo were dangerously close to her, and he quickly reached behind him, urging Lana to move to her right. As the technician passed, the box clipped Kal’s own side and both of the men staggered.

The dark-haired hunter glanced back toward the man, who also shot him a brief, contemptuous look, but otherwise the two of them kept moving without a word. Glancing back at Lana, he found the redhead rolling her eyes.

“My hero,” she quipped.

“Call it older brother instinct,” he shot back.

“You’re older by, like, a month at best.”

“Still older.”

Anther eyeroll greeted him as he smirked and turned to face forward, following Fiy through the crowded walkways until they reached a more permanent, wooden building at the far end of the field of VTOLs. Stepping inside, they squeezed their way past other hunting parties on their way out for the day until they reached a section at the far end, cordoned off by a wooden counter with wrought-iron bars forming a gate over the top.

A woman with broad shoulders and dressed in a white, sleeveless cotton top that looked slightly stained with sweat and other vague discolorations was currently wiping at the ammunition receiver of a rifle before the sound of Fiy clearing her throat prompted her to glance over. Instantly, her face cracked into a smirk as she shook some errant strands of chestnut brown hair from before her face, where they had fallen free of the black band she had used to hold the rest of it in place, although it appeared not long enough to fall much lower than her jawline, anyway.

“I was just beginning to wonder if I had missed all of you,” she quipped, her raspy tone cutting through the general din of voices and sounds of hunters loading packs behind them.

“You had to wonder if you missed this face?” Fiy shot back, gesturing melodramatically to herself. “The rest, I can understand, but…”

The brunette let out a barking laugh as she laid the rifle on the counter behind her and threw the rag she had been using atop it.

“I’ll decide when you show me if you ruined one of my weapons… again.”

“You know me, Ida… I’m good with children.”

With that, the group unloaded their weapons, handing them over one at a time as the brunette gave them cursory inspections before leaving them on a rack off to one side. When Lana came to hand hers over, grimacing as she lifted it onto the counter, Ida raised one eyebrow, her eyes instantly flashing to the redhead’s side.

“Hope one of these other idiots didn’t shoot you by mistake,” she quipped.

“No, no… the biggest idiot pushed me on top of something,” Lana said, glancing over at Kal with narrowed eyes.

“I’m sorry, I could have let you fall, if you’d have preferred,” he shot back.

“Okay, okay, no fighting in the garrison,” Ida sighed. “You can tell me all about it over the requisite drinks tonight. I might even buy Lana one on Kal’s tab.”

The dark-haired boy rolled his eyes as the brunette smirked.

“Now git. I’m working.”

With that, the group turned to make their way out of the building, lightened of their weapons and ammunition. Kal noted how Lana kept one hand to her left side as they stepped into the burning sunlight, once again, frowning slightly.

“Do you need to see the healer, next?” Santi asked, seemingly appearing at Lana’s side.

“No, I… I’d rather not go through having an official report filed,” she sighed. “We know someone.”

Santi nodded, but her expression still appeared concerned.

“Trust me,” the redhead quipped, grinning, “she’s the best.”

The group made their way to a waiting set of trucks, where various people from about the camp were boarding. After they had checked in with the boy who appeared to be no older than a teenager, they climbed aboard the nearest one with a fair amount of open seats, Santi offering a hand to help Lana drag herself into the back. As Kal fell into his seat, Fiy almost immediately slid in beside him, her hip crashing into his and prompting him to wince for a moment before shooting her a dirty look.

“Sorry, tight space,” she shot back, smirking.

The dark-haired boy rolled his eyes, but turned his attention to watching the last few passengers take their seats. Once the last one was filled, someone hit the outside of the truck and the engine roared to life. Within moments, they were off, steadily plowing along a dirt road away from the open field. As the rocking and jostling of the truck began to grow more constant and consistent, Kal found his gaze drifting about the landscape about them, watching as they drove past crop fields, many of them tended by both farmers and machines alike.

While the human figures he spotted harvested the crops to toss on carts pulled by Striders, Lancehorns and Grazers churned the soil in fields yet to be replanted, their work unveiling fresh layers of dark, hopefully fertile soil from beneath the cracked, dried surface.

When they finally began to draw closer to their destination, Kal’s gaze lifted to the imposing tower of rock that rose from the desert floor before them. Under the burning, mid-day sun, the first hints of gleaming metal on the distant buildings perched atop it began to shine, already, along with the imposing set of towering, metal elevators that had been fixed directly to the side of the formation.

A small grin tugged at Kal’s lips as the idea that each passing second brought him closer to his own bed began to sink in, and he sighed heavily.

When they finally reached the vehicle’s unloading zone, they came to a slow stop, the brakes whining slightly beneath them. Once the engine had been killed, the first passengers at the back began to disembark, opening the small gate and hopping onto the ground below. Kal and Fiy were the first to exit from their group, and once their feet were on the ground, they glanced back to find Lana gingerly taking a seat on the edge of the truck’s bed, preparing to slide forward in a slightly shorter drop than jumping from full height.

Still, Kal and Fiy each took one of her hands and tried to help slow her fall as much as they could, although the redhead still grunted in pain, bending to her left slightly as she quickly released Fiy’s hand, pressing her own against her side.

“C’mon, almost there,” Kal said quietly.

“Not dying, Kal,” she grumbled, but began to move with the rest of the group through the new crowd of merchants, laborers, and general residents that milled about the lower town of Meridian.

Although the crowd had a much wider variety of styles throughout it than the actual upper city, with less inherently gaudy costumes of the nobles and elites, the overall crowd seemed to draw from all over. Laborers in sweat-stained, utilitarian clothing in primarily greys, whites, and browns congregated around the various pubs scattered about, or walked with leather packs swung over their shoulders toward their next jobs. Merchants in brighter colors milled about their stalls or stores, calling to random passerby in attempts to seduce them into perusing the shelves and tables lined with everything from actually useful items to shiny trinkets and decorative odds and ends. Finally, some of the flashy colors and bright silks of the middle to upper class Carja wound their way about, many of them adorning younger faces, as they shopped and drank beside the others.

The group quickly left the crowded streets behind, however, as they reached the lines forming before the great elevators to the top of the mesa. Settling into place, Kal sighed, running one hand through his hair and turning so he was not directly facing into the sun, leaving him more or less staring around at the other members of the group.

“Hard to imagine they ever made this work with only two,” Fiy sighed, tugging at the collar of her tunic as Kal noted the beads of sweat beginning to run down her face.

“Meridian wasn’t the same place back then,” he replied, shrugging.

“So I’ve heard,” she sighed.

When it was finally their turn to board a car, they followed the rest of the group in before finding a place at the side, where they weren’t pressed together amongst the crowd. As the metal gates slid closed, the floor jerked slightly and began to ascend. The trip took almost a minute, as the elevator wasn’t particularly fast-paced, but the open walls provided a rapidly-expanding view of the lowlands around the mesa as they ascended.

Kal’s eyes were always drawn to the fields of crops first, before rising outward to the thick forests, and finally the snow-clad mountain peaks in the distance as they finally reached the top of the mesa. The bustle to exit as soon as the gates opened quickly swept them out onto the city streets, where they eventually made their way to an area where they could come to a stop for a moment.

“Do you want us to come with?” Santi asked, glancing between Lana and Kal with raised eyebrows.

“I think we’ll be fine,” Lana replied, nodding. “Thanks, though. See you two at sunset? The usual?”

“Ida’s expecting us so… I hope so,” Fiy smirked before nodding toward Lana. “Get patched up, girl.”

Lana and Kal nodded, bidding their goodbyes before beginning to wind their way through the city streets, taking the side and back avenues they had come to memorize since their youth to avoid the worst of the crowds. When they finally reached a familiar square, they made their way to the north side, where a shop with a wooden sign hung above the door: a treated, hunk of wood carved into the shape of a “V” with some more detailed designs carefully burned into the surface along the letter’s edges.

Kal pushed the front door open before gesturing for Lana to enter. She rolled her eyes, but slipped past him, entering the somewhat darkened space beyond.

“Vansa!”

The sound of scuffling and soft clinking of glass followed by a louder clatter and a muttered curse came through the door to a back room as the siblings approached the wooden counter in the middle of the room. The space was filled on all sides with plants that always reminded Kal somewhat of the Jewel to the south of the mesa, with the greenery and humidity laying atop them like a blanket. On the other side of the counter, however, one could easily mistake the space as an Oseram repair shop with the amount of metal, wires, and half-built machine parts stuffed into drawers and lying atop workbenches.

A moment later, a familiar face framed by a head of long, curly brown hair held loosely behind a dark hairband appeared around the doorframe, a pair of glasses lowered to the tip of her nose.

“Welcome home,” Vansa said, grinning as she stepped fully into the room, removing her glasses and tossing them into the room behind her before moving around the counter.

“Thanks,” Lana replied, shifting uncomfortably as she pressed her hand to her side with a slight grimace.

Vansa paused, noting her actions, as her brow furrowed.

“I take it I’m the first person you’ve seen in Meridian,” she commented.

“Yes,” the redhead said slowly, glancing over at Kal with a weary glance.

“Okay, what’s up?” Vansa asked, folding her arms before her chest as her eyebrows raised.

Kal raised his own eyebrows in turn to Lana, prompting her to sigh, turning back to the healer across from them.

“Is Aunt Ara here?”

Vansa’s eyebrows remained raised as she leaned her weight against the counter beside her.

“Looking— _for_ —her?”

Lana sighed, lifting her right hand to rub at her eyes tiredly.

“Actually… looking to… _avoid_ her…”

Vansa instantly straightened up, her expression transforming from one of doubt to concern in a split second.

“Lana, why?” she demanded.

The redhead sighed, remaining silent but instead lifting the hem of her tunic to reveal the field-dressed wound on her side. Vansa quickly rushed forward, kneeling before her and prodding carefully around the wound before inhaling swiftly through her nose.

“Tell me what happened while I work.”

With that, the healer rose to her feet, turning to make her way into the back examination room of the clinic, however Lana hesitated by the counter, still.

“Lana?” she said, coming to a stop in the doorway and glancing back at her.

“Aunt… Aunt Ara’s gonna be gone for a while… right?” the redhead asked softly.

Vansa sighed heavily, turning to fully face her, once again, and leaning on the doorframe.

“Looking to avoid this getting back to anyone?”

Lana and Kal exchanged glances before they both nodded tentatively. The healer smirked, nodding for the two of them to follow her into the room.

“My _wife_ is gone to the market for a while, left while I was swamped earlier. She’s been gone just under an hour, but she knows not to return without a little something for me, so I figure we’ve got about just as long until she’s back,” she said, already turning to enter the examination room. “Come on, Little Red, I’ll get you fixed up, and your secret doesn’t leave this room.”

Lana sighed in relief before wincing and pressing her hand against her side. As she followed Vansa into the room, the healer indicated the wooden table in the center of the space. The redhead gingerly climbed atop it as Kal lingered by the door, leaning his back against the wall and folding his arms before his chest.

“Tunic up and over your head,” Vansa commended, already turning to dig into her supplies in a cabinet on the far side of the room, her back to Lana.

The redhead glanced toward Kal, who rolled his eyes but made a show of closing them.

“I’m assuming you’re wearing something under it, like an adult.”

Lana made a sound in mocking, but the dark-haired boy kept his eyes closed as she gingerly tugged her tunic loose and over her head. Her jaw clenched tightly against the pain in her side at the motion of stretching her arms over her head, but she managed to hold back from letting out any sounds of pain, hopefully withholding at least some ammunition from Kal.

Vansa finally finished her rummaging and approached the table, once again, carrying several metal tools and a spool of what looked like twine in her hands. As she came to a stop before Lana, she glanced at her side, one eyebrow raised.

“You do this yourself?”

Lana shook her head before nodding toward her brother in the far corner.

“Kal.”

The dark-haired boy cracked one eye open as Vansa glanced over at him with a smirk, while Lana narrowed her eyes at him.

“Well, you haven’t bled to death, so good for a field dressing. I’ll make it nice and neat and you can go on your way,” the healer continued, turning back to her.

As the healer worked, the siblings recounted the tale of the night before, with only mild bickering when the exact events that led to Lana’s injury came up. The redhead tried to largely ignore the sensation of the sutures tugging at her side as Vansa worked, but thankfully shortly thereafter, she let out a sigh, clipping the end of her suture with a pair of scissors before placing all of her supplies on the nearby table with a soft clatter.

“Put your shirt on, Lana, you’re good to go,” she said, glancing at her handiwork once more before patting the redhead on her shoulder.

Lana nodded, quickly pulling the garment back over her head and tugging it into place, once again. As she did, she glanced down at her side, running her fingers over the damp, torn spot on her left side, the fabric ripped just enough to now allow anyone to see the stitches, albeit just barely; the stitches, themselves, were light in color and nearly the same color as her own pale skin tone, but not entirely invisible. Although the black fabric thankfully hid most of the stain, it was still somewhat obvious that something had happened to it.

A quiet groan sounded from the corner of the room as she spared a glance toward Kal, finding him with his eyes still closed, but stretching his arms over his head.

“Just make sure to keep it clean for about two weeks or so,” the healer continued, sighing. “If anything goes wrong, or the stitches don’t dissolve on their own, as they should, let me know immediately.”

“Of course,” Lana nodded, turning back to her.

Vansa offered a small smile before glancing over toward Kal, as well, and sighing.

“It’s all safe now, Kal.”

The boy cracked one eye before opening both of them fully, rubbing at them tiredly a moment later.

“So… the Moms going to immediately attack us with questions as soon as we walk in?” he asked, approaching the table.

“I don’t know, can you see it clearly?” Lana asked, gesturing to herself.

Kal tilted his head back and forth for a moment before shrugging.

“Because I’m looking for it.”

“Good enough for me,” Lana sighed, hopping off the table with a small wince. “Thanks, Vansa. See you this weekend?”

“Weekend?” Vansa replied, her face contorting in confusion as Lana raised her eyebrows.

“Family dinner with the Grandmas?”

“Oh… right,” the healer nodded. “Been so busy I completely forgot about it.”

“Sure Aunt Ara would have reminded you, anyway,” Kal shrugged.

“Probably the day of…”

The siblings smirked as the healer gave Lana some mild medication for the pain and sent them on their way, the duo slipping back onto the streets of Meridian. With the intense discomfort from earlier at least partially tempered, they didn’t move as carefully to avoid crowds, although a few times Lana receive a rather strong jolt to her side that sent her recoiling away, hissing through her teeth while shooting the offender a death glare.

When they finally reached one of the more residential streets, with apartments stacked on either side, they came to a stop before one particular building, about halfway down it and on their right.

“Need any help?” Kal asked, leaning against the wall beside him and raising his eyebrows.

“I’ll live,” Lana sighed.

“That I was sure of,” he smirked. “Dinner at the Moms soon before we meet the rest, right?”

“I’m so hungry…” the redhead sighed.

“They knew you’d be coming, I’m sure they made a lot,” he shot back, winking as Lana punched his shoulder.

With that, however, she retrieved a key from a pouch on her belt and unlocked the front door of her apartment, disappearing inside as Kal pushed away from the wall, turning on his heel to begin making his way farther down the street. After entering his own apartment, Kal removed his mud-soaked clothing, tossing it in a pile just outside the door to his bedroom before entering the bathroom just before it.

The warm shower immediately began to wash away the aches and fatigue that had settled into his body throughout the past few nights. Despite not outwardly acknowledging it, the tension in his muscles that had begun to form from the moment he had spotted the machine in the rain finally seemed to release under the steady pounding of the water, the sensation particularly noticeable in his neck as he rolled it tiredly. He lingered under the water for a few moments longer than necessary before finally shutting it off and reaching for a nearby towel.

Once dry, he wrapped it about his waist, grabbed his Focus from where he’d left it beside the sink, and plodded toward his bedroom, taking care to step over the pile of clothing he had discarded earlier. As he entered the room, rather than make for his bureau, he moved to the side of his bed, collapsing onto it, face-down.

The mattress and blanket were a welcome change from the hard ground and the seats of the VTOL, and he quickly found his eyes sliding closed. He only realized that he had actually dozed off when he heard a synthetic chiming from nearby. His eyes blinked open as he lifted his head, glancing around until he found his Focus still in his hand. As he slipped it beside his ear, the interface opened, revealing the notification of an incoming call from Lana.

Sighing, he tapped the “accept” option, already rubbing at his eyes.

“Hello?”

“You do realize you’re already ten minutes late?”

“I had a feeling…” he sighed, beginning to rise from his bed.

“Mama was just starting to become worried…” Lana continued, her tone teasing.

“Mama? Must be serious, then,” he said. “And Mom?”

“She was worried when I didn’t show up with you.”

“From the start,” Kal laughed, finally pulling on a pair of dark pants that he couldn’t tell whether they were black or navy in the relatively dim, evening light of his bedroom.

“You know how she is.”

“I know, I know,” he sighed. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“She’ll count every second.”

With that, the call ended and Kal grabbed an off-white tunic, pulling it over his head and securing it haphazardly under the waist of his pants, although he left the top portion that opened from the neck to partway down his chest unbuttoned. Once he had made sure to grab the necessary items for the evening for his belt, including the key from the one he had tossed by the door and a small bag of stamped shards for later, he pulled on a pair of non-soaked boots and made his exit onto the city streets.

The walk to his mothers’ house didn’t take long, as Meridian was not an exceedingly large place to traverse, but he still moved at a leisurely pace, rubbing at his eyes tiredly as he attempted not to bump into any of the other people around him. When he eventually left the busier streets of the markets behind, he soon came to a stop at the door to a building made of the typical, sandstone rock as the rest of the city. The familiar paintings in vivid blues, yellows, and reds on the walls beside the front door, most in the shape of vaguely sun-like shapes but noticeably not like the rather machine-like styles of the Carja, immediately set this particular building apart from the rest around it. With a glance over the designs, he noted that they seemed to have been recently refreshed, as the color seemed particularly vibrant.

Smirking, he finally turned to the door and knocked shortly on it. Voices called from inside, but they were indistinct, leaving him with a raised eyebrow as he tried to decide if one of them had invited him in. Just as he reached for the handle, however, the door was pulled open, prompting him to jump slightly.

“About time.”


	3. Roots and Branches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI, bumping the rating up to M.
> 
> Getting ~S P I C Y~ in here.
> 
> Be... warned?

The spark in his red-haired mother’s eyes and the smirk on her lips immediately betrayed Kal was not in any form of actual trouble, and he grinned.

“Fell asleep for a minute,” he shrugged. “Sorry Mama.”

Anukai laughed as she pulled him into a tight embrace, which he returned. Despite the prominent, silver streaks in her hair that twisted in an almost spiraling pattern throughout the loose braid that hung over her shoulder and the signs of lines that radiated from the corners of her eyes and lips, her grip was that of a hunter his own age, and he quickly found himself seemingly in a competition. Just before they could both attempt to accidentally break something, they relented, his mother sighing in relief as she did. As she pulled away, however, she kept one hand on his back, urging him inside with it. A flurry of movement, marked by a head of long, dark hair and a bright blue tunic, greeted him as soon as he stepped over the threshold and he soon found himself wrapped in another tight embrace.

“Hey, Mom,” he laughed, returning the gesture.

“Great Banukai, you’re finally here,” Ikrie sighed, refusing to release her son, just yet. “I was afraid Lana was going to have to help me finish dinner.”

“Hey!” the girl called from across the living space, folding her arms over her chest.

Kal shot her a smirk as he pat his dark-haired mother on her back for a moment before she let out another heavy sigh and released him, lifting her head so her pale eyes met his. Unlike her red-headed counterpart, Ikrie’s hair showed next to no signs of grey mixed in with her original, black color. Her face, however, still bore the hints of lines at the edges of her eyes and mouth, although not nearly as prominently as Anukai’s. For all intents and purposes, she could have easily been mistaken for someone nearly ten years younger.

“I feel as if you get a little taller each time,” she said, grinning.

“Maybe it’s not me getting taller…” he shot back.

Ikrie pouted for a moment before punching him playfully on the shoulder.

“You hear that Anukai? Our son thinks I’m shrinking!”

The redhead laughed, sliding in beside her mate and glancing between the two of them before wrapping her right arm about her middle.

“I don’t know, maybe he’s right…”

Ikrie scoffed indignantly, attempting to twist away from her, but Anukai held fast, laughing as she instead wrapped her other arm around her, the metal appendage engraved with an intricate series of patterns and glyphs holding her in place. Kal simply shook his head as he went to move around them, only for his dark-haired mother to turn her attention back to him.

“Also, what’s this?” she said quickly, reaching to tug at the open collar of his tunic.

“My clothes?” he said slowly.

“No, I mean who are you trying to show off for?” Ikrie continued, smirking.

“No one, just… comfortable…” Kal mumbled.

“Leave him alone,” Anukai sighed, leaning her head against the side of Ikrie’s. “He’s a grown boy and can dress himself however he likes.”

Kal smirked as the redhead placed a quick kiss to the side of her mate’s head and released her, the group making their way toward the kitchen, where Lana stood with her back against the wall just outside it.

“I was only partially kidding when I mentioned helping finish dinner,” Ikrie said, motioning for Kal to follow her.

He laughed, but followed her inside, as Anukai sighed and fell against the wall beside her daughter, folding her arms in a similar manner.

“That means I get a break,” she smirked.

Lana laughed softly, shifting her position as she tried to hide how she tried to adjust her blue, sleeveless top with her elbow from rubbing against the stitches on her left side. Even as she did, she spared a glance toward Anukai, only to find her staring over at her, an unreadable expression on her face which prompted the younger redhead to swallow nervously.

“So… find anything?” her mother finally asked, thankfully redirecting from where Lana feared her questioning would head.

“We did, actually,” she nodded. “At least two Scorchers and a couple of Watchers.”

Anukai raised her eyebrows.

“Multiple?”

Lana nodded, shifting the folding of her arms slightly.

“They were all hiding out in… some old ruin. It was… strange.”

“Multiple rogue machines… all hiding out together…” Anukai muttered, nodding as she chewed the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. “Gramma GAIA’s going to really want that data.”

Just then, a soft chime sounded in both of their ears.

“I am already in the process of downloading it,” the soft, feminine voice said.

“Eager?” Lana teased, smirking.

“Always, however I particularly wished to study this as you—”

The younger woman froze, her jaw clenching as the AI woman also seemed to pause mid-thought. After a long moment or two, GAIA continued, however.

“—as you took some time in the ruin, it seems.”

“Yeah, it… it was a big place,” she nodded.

“Preliminary scans of your data indicate that it is… no longer such.”

Lana smirked.

“Hunting rogue machines is a messy business.”

Not long after, Ikrie appeared from within the kitchen, carrying a plate of steaming meat, while Kal followed behind her with what appeared to be a bowl of some kind of rice tinted red with spices and some kind of sauce. The group quickly took seats at the nearby table, Lana taking a plate from Anukai before almost immediately reaching to secure some food for herself. Kal tried to grab a pair of tongs before her, but she proved to have the advantage and stuck out her tongue in his direction before heaping on a sizeable amount of meat.

Once everyone had been served, she began to tear into her food, seemingly ignoring the conversation Ikrie attempted to start. Finally, she noted that the voices around her had stopped and she glanced around, food still in her mouth, finding them all looking at her with amusement.

“What?” she managed.

“I was talking to Kal about what you two were planning for tonight, and figured you should be included,” Ikrie smirked.

“Oh…” Lana mumbled, wiping at her mouth for a moment before clearing her throat. “What did he tell you we were doing?”

“No, wait, I want you to tell her the plan first,” Kal interrupted, smirking.

The auburn-haired girl sighed exasperatedly, folding her arms on the table before her.

“Meeting some friends,” she said, shooting a challenging expression at her brother across the table from her.

“Which ones?” he pressed, leaning forward and propping his elbows on the table, cupping his chin with his hands.

“The fun ones.”

“Okay, enough,” Anukai sighed. “This time it isn’t a competition—for once.”

The siblings shot each other narrow-eyed looks before turning back to their food.

“How’s Santi’s father doing?” Ikrie asked before taking a bite of her food.

Lana felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up for a moment before she cleared her throat, shrugging it off.

“I’ve heard he’s better,” she replied, glancing over at her dark-haired mother. “The healers say that Vansa’s metal splints helped set his leg really well.”

“Falling from a Strider is not a fun time,” Anukai sighed, shaking her head. “You can ask your Grandma about that one.”

“Oh, we’ve heard it,” Kal interjected, smirking, “from Nana.”

The stitches in Lana’s side suddenly began to burn slightly and she squirmed in her seat, instinctively pressing her left elbow against her side for a moment before quickly attempting to sit normally. She once again caught Anukai’s attention on her out of the corner of her eye, and the hint of something probing—a sense of something like curiosity or concern—pressed against the back of her mind. Lana did her best to force both aside, focusing on her food, once again.

As her head bowed, Kal’s eyes flicked from her to Anukai, finding his red-haired mother glancing toward him with a curious glint in her eyes. He quickly swallowed, turning his attention down to his food, once again.

“I got a message that Jens is finally free tonight, so hopefully he’ll be there,” he said, attempting to change the subject.

“That boy is going to work himself to the bone by the time he’s thirty,” Ikrie sighed.

“He enjoys what he does, so…” Kal shrugged, laughing.

The rest of dinner passed rather simply, until they had all eaten their fill, although some food remained in the center of the table. Ikrie mentioned something about having some for tomorrow before enlisting Lana to help her carry the bowl and plate back into the kitchen. As they disappeared into the other room, Kal rose from his seat, stretching his arms over his head before pushing his chair in and leaning against the back of it.

“So I know I told Mom to leave you alone,” Anukai began, drawing his attention as she smirked and tugged at the front of her own tunic, “but what is going on with this?”

“It’s hot in Meridian,” he shot back defensively.

“Not so much at night.”

“Hotter than the mountains the past few days.”

The redhead rolled her eyes but offered him a knowing smirk.

“Just be safe.”

Kal rolled his eyes similarly as he sighed exasperatedly, hanging his head as he leaned more of his weight onto the back of the chair.

“ _Mother_ …”

He was saved a few moments later when Lana and Ikrie appeared from within the kitchen, once again. As they entered the living space, Kal noted how his sister instinctively tugged at the hem of her top, particularly on her left side, but their mothers didn’t seem to move to comment on it.

“I don’t want to hold you two back from your fun and debauchery,” Ikrie sighed, patting her daughter on her back. “We’ll see you tomorrow for dinner again, right?”

“But of course,” Lana replied, smirking.

“How did I guess,” Ikrie sighed before turning to Kal and pointing at him. “You’ll be on time, right?”

“Yes, I’m sorry I was tired,” he shot back, raising his hands defensively.

“Okay…” the dark-haired woman said, nodding for a moment before grinning and glancing between her children. “I’m just glad to have you both home again.”

“It was only three days, Mom,” Lana sighed, wrapping her arms around Ikrie’s shoulders from beside her. “We’re fine.”

With another round of embraces for them all, Lana and Kal bid their mothers good night and made their exit. Stepping onto the street outside, it was immediately apparent that the sun had set quite a bit during dinner, and the soft, artificial lights that hung over the city streets were just beginning to illuminate, casting the streets in their typical, hazy wash of oranges, pinks, and blues.

“We decided on a place, right?” Kal said, glancing over at his sister, who rolled her eyes and pushed him to the right.

“Same as always, idiot.”

As they made their way through the city, they fell into silence, although neither was particularly bothered by it, instead focusing their attentions on the crowds of people slowly beginning to build about them. During the day, the streets were filled with bright, Carja silks and fancy jewelry that shone under the glare of the desert sun, however at night, the colors and styles began to blur and blend a little more. Two women dressed in the heavy, cotton shirts and leather pants of Sparkworkers passed them, heading in the opposite direction, while a group of young adults in a mixture of the darker, sleeker styles of the Western cities and the more simple, solid colors of the widening Carja middle class of the boroughs at the base of the mesa laughed, shouted, and darted about the street ahead of them.

By the time they had made their way to the west side of the mesa, the sun had firmly set behind the distant mountains, leaving the sky cast in brilliant pinks, oranges, and reds, while the blue overhead began to fade to the deeper indigo of night. Turning onto the last street, the sounds of loud voices talking over each other began to build immediately, until they came to a stop before the heavy, wooden door to an old, stone pub. The sign overhead looked as if it had recently been replaced, but the name and logo were the same as they had been ever since their Aunt Ara had introduced them to it several years ago.

Glancing toward Lana, Kal pulled the door open and gestured dramatically for her to go first. She rolled her eyes, but stepped forward, slipping inside the raucous interior. As she came to a stop just short of running into a large man in Sparkworker clothing directly before her, she glanced around the interior of the pub past him for a moment or two. Spotting her target, she slipped to her right, glancing back to wave Kal on behind her.

Squeezing through the crowd prompted her to grimace and cringe as pressure was applied to her stitches multiple times, but she powered through it until she finally reached the head of bright, blonde hair at the distant table she had spotted from the doorway.

“It’s a good thing you got here first, Jens,” she commented, suddenly clapping both of her hands down on his shoulders, “otherwise I’d never find anyone else in here.”

The young man jumped at the sudden contact, but quickly smirked as he placed his mug back on the table and tilted his head back to glance up at Lana.

“It’s what I’m useful for, you know.”

She shook her head but pat his shoulder and glanced up to find the rest of the table was empty.

“We the first ones, after you?”

“Fiy messaged me that she was running late, but didn’t say why, and Santi said she’s helping her father and will be a little late.”

Lana nodded, biting her lower lip for a moment before glancing toward Kal beside her.

“What do you want?” he asked, nodding toward the bar counter on the far side of the room.

“You’re buying for me?” she shot back, raising her eyebrows.

“Call it apologizing,” he said, vaguely gesturing to her side.

Lana grinned slightly before asking him for a mug of simple ale and moving to take a seat in one of the empty chairs to Jens’ right. As Kal disappeared into the crowd, the blonde boy turned to her, raising one eyebrow.

“Apologizing?” he said, beginning to lift his mug, again. “What serious travesty must have occurred for him to do that?”

Lana laughed half-heartedly as she leaned back in her seat, lifting up the hem of her top to expose the stitches. Jens’ eyes widened slightly as he tilted his head to try to get a better view past the edge of the table.

“Did he do that?”

“Not directly,” she sighed, pulling her top back down. “We were trying to make an escape from a second-floor balcony that was collapsing and I think he tripped as he had one arm behind me and we both fell. There was debris on the floor and…”

The blonde stared back at her for a moment or two in silence, before blinking several times and shaking his head, as if clearing himself from a daze.

“There was… a lot in that sentence,” he muttered, taking a drink.

Lana laughed, leaning back in her chair and folding her hands over her stomach.

“Hunting trip out into the mountains,” she explained. “We found some rogue machines in an old ruin, and it was… not stable.”

“Ah, yes, these rogue machines,” Jens nodded, placing his mug on the table and leaning forward, cradling the vessel between both hands. “I’ve heard about them, that they’ve been growing in numbers for almost twenty years or so.”

“I suppose you’d be interested in that,” Lana laughed, nodding.

“Well, seeing as my entire business revolves around using them to build and transport goods… I’d like to know how they go rogue and if any of mine will do it, so… yeah, perhaps,” he replied, smirking.

The auburn-haired girl inhaled slowly through her nose before sighing.

“We don’t know why or how, yet,” she finally said. “GAIA is working on it, but…”

“No leads, even with the amount that have been found?”

“No,” Lana shook her head. “She’s said that it seems almost random, but isn’t allowing herself to commit to that.”

Jens nodded slowly, turning his mug slowly with his fingers as he stared vacantly at the table between them for a moment or two.

“Nothing is truly random with machines.”

Just then, Kal returned to the table carrying a mug like Jens’ and a glass of amber liquid. He placed the mug on the wooden surface and carefully pushed it toward Lana, who groaned as she leaned forward and took it. The dark-haired boy took a sip of his liquor, sinking into a chair to the left of Jens and across from his sister.

“So, what’s new in the rail business?” he asked, turning his attention to Jens.

“Mountains,” the blonde replied, sighing.

“Correct me if I’m wrong… but those have been around for much longer than any of us,” Kal shot back, raising one eyebrow.

“But we have just begun contending with how and if we can build through or over them,” Jens said.

“You’re going to try to build a rail system _through_ a mountain?” the dark-haired boy replied, raising his other eyebrow as he took a sip from his bitter drink.

“Well, currently the system runs around them,” the blonde replied, tracing a looping shape on the table before him before drawing the line up and away from himself, “but it adds lots of unnecessary time.”

“I see…” Kal nodded, “but building over them is not fun, either, I take it.”

“You try digging into the side of a rocky mountain and pinning a heavy, metal railway into place that can support massive cars carrying hundreds or thousands of tons of lumber or—”

“I know, I know,” the dark-haired boy laughed, patting Jens on the shoulder.

“Your aunt, Ashana, Nasara, and our team have been writing and re-writing plans for this for weeks, arguing over it every time…” the blonde sighed.

“Well, Aunt Ash does like a good argument, sometimes,” Lana chimed in, smirking.

“She can be—stubborn—but she speaks with conviction,” Jens replied, nodding.

“Definitely sounds like her,” Kal laughed, taking another drink from his glass.

Just then, motion from his left drew the dark-haired boy’s attention and he glanced over just in time to find a figure sitting down in the chair to his left, slamming her mug down on the table, as she did.

“I thought I was early,” Ida said, grinning as she glanced around at the group.

The brunette Oseram was still wearing the same clothes she had been at the armory, although notably with the hair band removed, so that it hung more loosely by her chin, although it still retained some of the pulled-back shape from likely being held there almost the entire day.

“I know, usually if there’s alcohol involved, you’re the first one here,” Kal quipped.

Ida rolled her eyes and punched his shoulder playfully, but with a good amount of force that nearly spilled his drink. The brunette quickly turned her attention back to Lana, however, leaning forward against the table.

“How’re you holding up?” she asked somewhat loudly to be heard over the din of the crowded pub.

“Held together by the best,” Lana replied, leaning forward, as well.

“Vansa?”

The auburn-haired girl nodded, prompting Ida to grin and slide from her seat, moving around the table to fall into the one beside her.

“Show me,” she said, raising her eyebrows.

Lana turned in her seat, rolling onto her hip slightly while lifting the hem of her top, revealing the pale stitches in her side. Ida tilted her head slightly to look down at them before nodding.

“Not too big,” she replied.

“No, wasn’t a gaping wound,” Lana laughed.

“Live to fight another day,” Ida shot back, smirking before raising her mug in cheers.

“Live to deal with more of all of you for another day,” she countered.

The brunette laughed heartily before they tapped their mugs together and drank. The four of them continued to talk idly while the siblings held off on recounting their story until the final two of their party had arrived, with Kal stating that he didn’t want to have to repeat himself, and Lana feeling inclined to agree. Keeping to her word from earlier, however Ida offered to get the auburn-haired sibling a drink, and as she rose from her seat, turned to her sibling, raising her eyebrows.

“You have a tab?”

Kal shot her an admonishing look as the brunette smirked and slipped away. Almost as soon as she had, however, a new figure took her place, sliding into the chair at Lana’s side, prompting her to jump slightly in surprise.

“Made it, sorry,” Santi sighed, running one hand back through her ash brown hair before turning toward Lana and bracing her elbows on the back of the chair and the table beside her, simultaneously. “How’re you doing, Lana?”

The auburn-haired girl eyed the other’s change in appearance, notably having cleaned the mud that had stained her earlier and swapping her dark-colored hunting gear for a vibrant yellow top, seemingly made of Carja silk, underneath a black jacket in a notably western style of the Port and a pair of black leggings that she couldn’t discern the material they were made of, grinning in response.

“I’m fine, Santi,” she replied. “Few stitches and I’m back to normal. Is your dad okay, though?”

“Oh, good,” the other girl said, nodding, although Lana caught how her eyes flicked to her side for a moment before returning to her face. “He’s well. Just had to carry some heavy firewood from our shed to the house, and he’s still not supposed to be putting lots of weight on his leg.”

“I’m sure that’s killing him,” Lana said, laughing softly.

“You have no idea…”

Just then, Ida returned with two drinks, noting that her seat had been taken and offering a pouting expression for a moment before grinning and falling into the one on the other side of Santi.

“Heads up!” she called before suddenly sliding the drink past the other girl.

Santi jumped in surprise, nearly hitting the moving mug in her surprise, but it managed to make it to its destination with little to no spilled contents. Smirking, Lana took the offered drink and took a large swig from it almost immediately. Glancing at the brunette beside her, she raised her eyebrows at her concerned expression.

“You were just injured earlier today…”

The auburn-haired girl waved dismissively as she smirked.

“Helps with any lingering pain.”

“You’re still in pain?”

“Mainly to my pride.”

Santi rolled her eyes as Lana laughed, glancing across the table to find the last member of their party had arrived as Fiy appeared behind Kal, sliding her hands onto his shoulders and gripping them tightly, prompting him to jump and tilt his head back.

“Sorry I’m late,” she called over the din about them, “but I see my absence was not a hindrance to the party.”

The others all called back with some form of response akin to “stop being so dramatic” as the short-haired girl grinned and slid into the seat beside Kal.

“I see no one ordered for me,” she added, smirking.

“No, because _you_ owe _us_ ,” Lana shot back, leaning forward with a grin. “We found the machines, and we killed them. It’s your turn to pay up.”

“I still want to see proof of this,” Fiy replied, inclining her head slightly as she narrowed her eyes at the auburn-haired girl.

Lana rolled her eyes but tapped her Focus, searching through the various saved files on it until she found one that had been recently added earlier that night by “User_GAIA_Prime”. She tapped the file, glancing at it quickly to see that it appeared to show the video of Kal and her fighting the Scorcher on the balcony before it collapsed. She skipped to the end to find that it appeared to stop just as she fell to the ground, prompting her to grimace at the memory and subconsciously rub at her side.

With that, however, she chose the option to send the file and forwarded it to the others’ Focuses. As it arrived, the others all seemed to perk up at the notifications in their ears and also checked their devices. As they all seemed to watch the video, Lana noted when they had reached the end when most of them seemed to flinch slightly. Almost immediately, she caught how Santi glanced toward her, a concerned expression on her face, which she quickly tried to pass off by clearing her throat and tapping at her Focus.

"Okay… color me impressed,” Fiy said, smirking as she closed her device’s interface, as well, “and count that as a drink earned.”

Lana rolled her eyes as she leaned back in her chair, taking another swig of her drink. The short-haired girl turned her attention to Kal, raising her eyebrows slightly as she nodded toward the bar.

“Want to come pick out your reward?”

He shook his head, laughing, before downing the rest of his drink and beginning to rise from his chair.

“What’s your choice, Lana?” Fiy called across the table.

“I could go for a nice wine.”

“Let me guess… red?”

“How’d you know?” Lana teased, grabbing the tip of her hair and waving it slightly as she smirked.

Kal shook his head, again, as he followed Fiy into the crowd, the two snaking their way between the other patrons in varying stages of sobriety and rowdiness until they reached the main, wooden bar. As they reached it, Fiy managed to slip into a gap just as a couple stepped away with their drinks. Kal stepped in beside her before another man in bright, Carja silks could, prompting an irritated expression from him, but he ultimately moved on to find another spot.

“So, rogue Scorchers…” Fiy said, close enough to him that she no longer needed to shout over the noise around them. “Not an easy fight.”

“Unless you bring an entire building down on top of them,” Kal replied, smirking.

The short-haired girl nodded, smirking as a devilish glint appeared in her eyes. Before she could say anything else, however, a barmaid with wavy blonde hair appeared on the other side of the counter, throwing the towel she had been using to wipe down the wood surface over one shoulder and leaning against it.

“You two?” she huffed, nodding toward them.

Fiy’s gaze instantly snapped around to her, grinning as she leaned forward.

“I’ll take a glass of your best red wine you’ve got open, a three finger pour of voka, and whatever he’s having,” she ordered, before glancing toward Kal.

“Another round of whiskey,” he nodded, sliding his empty glass forward.

The barmaid nodded, sliding away to grab the drinks as Fiy turned back to Kal.

“Simple idea for a reward,” she said, the glint returning to her eyes.

“I know what I like,” he shrugged, smirking.

“Do you now?”

Fiy raised one eyebrow before leaning in toward Kal; a moment later, he felt her lips press up against his, and he parted them slightly to sink deeper into the kiss. He felt hers tug at his bottom lip for a few moments before she pulled back, her breath hot across his chin as she exhaled slowly. As their eyes met, again, he found the glint had only grown stronger in Fiy’s, the short-haired girl humming softly as she rubbed her lips together.

“Here you go.”

They both quickly whirled toward the bar, again, finding the barmaid sliding their drinks to them. Fiy thanked her and slid across a handful of shards before taking hers and Lana’s drinks. As they began to turn away from the counter, Kal carefully clinked his glass against Fiy’s, smirking.

“Thanks for the round.”

“Only the first for the night… perhaps,” she replied, winking before turning and leading the way back toward the table.

As they returned, Fiy moved behind Lana and carefully placed the glass on the table before her, patting her on the shoulder before moving to take her seat beside Kal, once again. The auburn-haired girl sipped at her prize before nodding, impressed.

“Not bad,” she called, raising the glass slightly in thanks.

“Jira’s is yet to disappoint,” Fiy replied, raising her own in return.

The group continued to recount their recent adventures, with Lana and Kal obliged to share first, the siblings going into detail about the expedition into the mountains and how they had endured the first night of the expedition before Kal spotted the machine on the second. The story of the journey into the ruin saw multiple opportunities for each to mock and poke fun at the other, until they came to the segment on the balcony, where Kal was the first to admit that he had only been trying to pull them both to safety and tripped.

“I… still feel bad,” he said, turning his now empty glass slowly with his fingers.

Lana offered him a small, almost unnoticeable smile behind her glass before she finished her wine.

“Well, you did then drag me out of there before it collapsed.”

Fiy and Santi’s story of their expedition was much less harrowing, following the siblings’, however it did explain why Santi had been covered in mud when they met on the VTOL. The brunette had bowed her head, hiding her face behind her hair as Fiy recounted how she had slipped during the second night, when it was raining, and fallen face first onto the grassy slope, coming back from relieving herself, and had slid a good several yards down it until she came to a stop at the muddy shore of the small pond where they had set up camp.

“Wait, you two were camping together?” Lana interjected, sitting up straight. “I thought the point was to be on our own?”

“We were, until sunset on the second night, where we happened to come across each other,” Fiy replied, smirking.

“Uh huh…”

Jens offered a very short version of his work in the past several weeks, waving much of it away as “technical shit no one wanted to hear” and instead simply explaining that the railway was looking to carve more efficient paths to the coasts, as well as some of the newer cities that had begun to appear and grow across the land between them.

“Forgive me if I’m not understanding,” Fiy chimed in, swirling the last dregs of her drink in one hand, “but wouldn’t flying with something like the VTOLs be faster?”

“Faster, but not as easy or efficient to move as much freight,” he shot back. “One VTOL can carry maybe as much as one car on these trains. The difference: we can attach fifteen or so of these cars at once. One train or a small fleet of VTOLs… which do you think is easier to spare at a given moment?”

“Okay, okay,” the short-haired girl laughed, turning to finish the last of her drink.

Ida was the last to go, but rather than recount stories of her work, she excitedly began to describe her work on her various “inventions” and personal projects that she admitted to perhaps using some of her job’s resources to fund and create. She took particular interest in explaining the modifications to weapons she had been working on, including one that had used something similar to the eye of a Watcher to improve the aiming ability of rifles. The brunette talked excitedly about her design, giving vague hand motions to try to animate what she was saying.

The only people at the table who seemed to truly follow along with her after the first minute or so, however, were Kal and Jens. Fiy slipped away at the third minute, bringing Santi and Lana with her toward the bar. Soon after they had left, Ida seemed to reach the end of her description and glanced around at the empty chairs before smirking.

“Anyway, I thought it was interesting,” she shrugged.

“I did, too,” Kal nodded. “If you’ve got a working proof I’d love to try it sometime.”

“I’m off duty the day after tomorrow,” Ida offered, raising her eyebrows.

“Should be free in the evening,” he countered, grinning.

Just then, the other three returned to the table, carrying multiple small glasses, each.

“Sorry to interrupt the… stimulating conversation,” Fiy said, leaning in between Ida and Kal and placing the two glasses in her hands on the table and sliding them toward each of them, “but I believe you both might be thirsty from talking so much.”

They both shook their heads, but took the offered drinks, as the remainder were handed out. The toast was short and to the point, with Fiy directing it toward Lana’s health, to a strong eyeroll from the auburn-haired girl. When it was finished, however, they downed their drinks, Kal discovering that they had opted for the bitter, yellow liquor made from the bladed, leafy plants native to the desert around Meridian. Shaking his head as the last of it settled in his stomach, he placed the glass upside down on the table before him.

“Now that we’re all… freshly hydrated,” Fiy continued, “I propose a little journey.”

“A journey?” Lana countered, raising her eyebrows.

“To another watering hole… one I’m sure you are familiar with, but that is… a different atmosphere.”

Fiy glanced around the group, a glint in her eyes until her gaze finally came to rest on Kal.

“I’m up for something different.”

As they came to a stop outside the inconspicuous door on a side street, Lana caught Ida self-consciously tugging at her shirt, a small frown fixed on her features. The auburn-haired girl placed a hand on her back, prompting the brunette to jump slightly, glancing over at her. She offered a reassuring smile before both of them turned their attention back to the door as Fiy knocked. A moment later, it cracked open, revealing a young woman with jet black hair and similarly dark eyes in a simple, but bright yellow dress made of Carja silk.

“Room for six?” Fiy asked.

The girl in the doorway glanced around the gathered group before her eyes fell on Kal and Lana, in turn, lingering for several moments each.

“You’re in luck,” she finally said, grinning, “we just might.”

With that, she opened the door wider, stepping back and gesturing for the group to enter. As they passed, Lana noted how her gaze lingered on Ida and Jens for different reasons, prompting her to clench her jaw and raise her chin slightly as the girl’s gaze met hers, once again. She quickly swallowed and nodded, not able to hold the auburn-haired girl’s gaze.

Soon after entering, however, they were thrown in to the hazy, half-darkness of the hideaway, the other patrons barely visible as silhouettes against the muted, artificial lighting that hung from the walls. Several of the group coughed as they first inhaled the smoke-filled air, but the taste sat familiar in the back of Lana’s throat, bringing a smirk to her lips, instead.

The silhouette that she knew was Fiy led them to the far back corner of the space, off to the side of the bar. As they reached it, they found a set of couches arranged in a vaguely semi-circle shape around a low, wooden table with a metal contraption atop it, several long, pliable tubes hanging from small holders affixed around a circular ring near the top.

“Certainly a different atmosphere, no?” Fiy said, standing at the head of the table and gesturing about her.

“Certainly something…” Ida muttered, taking a seat on one of the couches.

“I’ll get us started,” the short-haired girl continued before turning to Kal to her left and placing a hand on his arm. “Help me a moment?”

He grinned and turned to follow her as the others began to take their seats. Approaching the bar, they came to a stop behind the line already waiting at the counter.

“I should have guessed what you had in mind,” Kal commented, smirking as he folded his arms over his chest.

“You mean you didn’t immediately?” Fiy replied, raising one eyebrow. “I figured you would have, since you were the one who introduced me to this place.”

“I do suppose I did.”

The short-haired girl rolled her eyes, but turned back to the bar as two of the patrons at it turned to step away with their glasses in hand. As she slipped past, one of them, a man dressed in the somewhat antiquated style of the traditional Carja nobles stepped out of her way, only to nearly run into Kal. The dark-haired boy quickly reached out to stop him, prompting the man to jump in surprise, turning his attention away from Fiy to look him up and down. As he did, a spark of what seemed to be recognition sparked in his eyes, although Kal’s features contorted in confusion.

Ultimately, the man turned and walked away, however, leaving the dark-haired boy staring after him quizzically for a moment before shaking his head and turning to follow Fiy. Finding that another patron had taken the spot beside her, he stepped behind her, grinning as he slid his hands onto her sides, just above her hips. Her top sported a largely open back, with the front consisting of two, somewhat broad strips of silk that ran from her waist to her collarbones, where they formed a collar of sorts that wrapped around the back of her neck; as such, his fingers quickly found their way across warm skin, his thumbs pressing into it in gentle, massaging motions. Fiy arched her back slightly, leaning her head back and turning it over her shoulder as he caught a smirk on her lips.

Before either could speak, the server on the opposite side of the counter approached, grinning as she spotted the pair.

“Was wondering when we’d see either of you back here,” the dirty blonde man said, grinning.

“Surprise—both of us are here at once,” Fiy replied, “and we brought friends.”

“I presume you’re looking for supplies for a crowd, then?” the server replied, tapping his fingers on the edge of the counter.

“Indeed we are,” Kal added over her shoulder.

With that, the server wrapped his knuckles on the counter and slid off to their right, moving toward a series of jars on the back counter beside the racks of liquor bottles. As he did, one of the other servers, a woman with a well-freckled face and chestnut brown hair delivered two tall glasses of a light, golden alcohol to the man to Fiy’s right, prompting him to step away from the bar. Kal seized his opportunity and slid into his space, sighing as he folded his arms across his stomach, where it rested against the wooden surface. Almost immediately, however, he felt Fiy press her hip against his, leaning her weight into him as he smirked over at her.

Just then, the server returned, once again, with a small bowl of ground herbs, sliding it across the counter to them.

“What’ll it be?” Fiy asked, pulling it closer to her.

“Well, I suppose we’ll go with the Khane Padish discount,” he replied, smirking. “Fifty shards.”

“That’s a good discount,” Kal quipped, the server laughing as the dark-haired boy slid the payment across the surface.

“Particularly for a fake Khane Padish.”

He immediately froze, the hair on the back of his neck standing up as he turned to glance to his right, finding the man he had nearly run into earlier now leaning against the bar, beside him.

“Excuse me?” Kal said, turning more fully to face him.

“I thought I recognized you,” he continued, narrowing his eyes slightly at the boy, “from touting that name with the highest in the court—an impostor.”

“My grandmother—”

“Is Talanah Khane Padish, I know,” he spat. “You are not actually her grandson, though. She has no heirs.”

Kal laughed dryly, shaking his head as he stood up straight, the man turning to match his posture.

“You must have forgotten that Carja law allows a member of a family to confer their name to another, if no living heirs remain,” he said in a low tone.

“She can give her name to any beggar or tramp who stands before her, but that does not make them—”

Before the man could finish his sentence, however, Kal had lunged forward, grabbing him by his throat and holding him firmly in place as the man attempted to grab at his arm, but the boy’s grip was too strong.

“Do not speak ill of my mother,” he spat, “or they’ll be the last words you fucking speak.”

“Kal,” Fiy’s voice came firmly from behind him, one of her hands gripping his shoulder.

The boy inhaled deeply through his nose before releasing the man, leaving him coughing and wheezing as he rubbed at his throat.

“The name is mine by birthright, as given by Talanah Khane Padish,” he spat, “and I will continue to wear it as such, under the law… and under the Sun.”

With that, he glanced back toward the server, finding him watching the scene with a tight-lipped expression.

“I’m sorry,” Kal said, digging another small handful of shards from the pouch on his belt and sliding them across the counter to a nod from the server.

With that, he turned away from the bar, following Fiy’s guiding hand as she led him back toward the group. Before they reached them, however, she slipped in front of him, her hand sliding onto his chest to stop him in place.

“He’s just an old bastard,” she said softly. “Don’t let him get to you.”

“Not the first time I’ve heard it,” Kal shrugged. “Seems it won’t be the last.”

Fiy’s face was barely visible in the hazy, near-darkness, but he could just make out a tight-lipped expression before she leaned forward and he felt her lips press against his. When she pulled away a moment later, she lingered close to him, exhaling slowly.

“You’re still a Khane Padish to me.”

With that, they made their way back to the group, finally, Kal forcing a broad grin on his face as he squeezed past Ida and Jens to take a seat on the far couch, where Fiy fell onto the cushions beside him. Within a minute, the herbs had been deposited and the device had been lit, Kal quickly taking one of the first tubes and breathing on it until the smoke began to flow. He took several deep inhales before relinquishing the tube to Fiy, leaning back in his seat as he exhaled slowly.

“C’mon, work…”

Seemingly heeding his request, he began to feel the first instances of tingling in his fingers and toes as a heaviness began to spread in his limbs and his mind, bringing with it a sense of ease not entirely unlike falling asleep, although with the near-darkness of the room, he wondered a few times if he had truly dozed off as he continued to take more and more hits from the piece in the center of the table.

At some point, he was aware of Lana hitting his leg, drawing his attention to find her gesturing after Ida, who was waving for him to follow her. Confusion creased his face as he pushed himself from the couch and carefully maneuvered out of the corner after Lana, both sibling approaching her.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“No—well—maybe?” she said, the broad-shouldered brunette glancing off to her left for a moment as he detected a hint of uncertainty to her voice that he wasn’t used to.

“What is it?”

“Just… I feel out of place… here,” she said. “I’m… this sounds stupid… I’m afraid to go up there and order on my own. I’m afraid they’ll ignore me or—or kick me out or—”

“You’ll be fine,” Lana interjected, clasping one hand on her shoulder and grinning. “Come on.”

With that, the three of them made their way up to the bar, where Lana led the way into a spot as soon as one opened, bringing Ida with her so that she stood against the counter beside her. The server who had spoken to Kal and Fiy earlier appeared before them, grinning.

“There’s the other one,” he said, his gaze focused on Lana.

“Rarely get one without the other,” she commented, smirking. “My friend here, though, would like a drink.”

The server turned to Ida, raising his eyebrows.

“A new face,” he commented. “Hello stranger, what’s your poison?”

Ida laughed, her posture relaxing slightly as she leaned more into the counter.

“What’s the strongest, darkest liquor you’ve got?”

The server smirked and hurried away, grabbing a bottle with what appeared to be a black liquid inside it, pouring a small amount into a glass and bringing it over to the counter.

“Try this,” he offered, sliding it to her.

Ida took it, sniffing at the top before downing the small portion in one go. Immediately, she nodded, placing the glass back on the counter and sliding it forward.

“That, more of that.”

The server laughed, pouring her a full, three-finger pour before sliding it back.

“It’s on his tab,” Ida said, jabbing a thumb at Kal and prompting him to scoff.

“First, I’m insulted that you insinuated,” he chimed in, “but I was going to offer, anyway.”

“We’ll split it,” Lana sighed, rolling her eyes.

“No, Lana, you—” Ida began, turning to glance over at her.

“Got injured, but I don’t bleed shards… usually,” the auburn-haired girl quipped, sliding some across the counter as Kal supplied the rest.

As Lana and Ida turned to make their way back to the group, Kal bought himself another drink, downing nearly half of it before he got back to the couches. As he did, he bumped into someone who was just moving to leave them, and he began to mutter an apology, only to feel himself being pushed backward. Confusion creased his face until he caught Fiy’s face in one of the passing lights affixed to the wall nearby.

“That drink for me?”

“Well…”

“Now it is.”

With that, she took it from his hand, finishing the rest of it and sighing.

“Shame, looks like you could use another drink,” she quipped, smirking.

Kal grinned, shaking his head as he followed Fiy back to the bar, yet again. As they came to a stop before it, he could feel the haziness had begun to fully settle over him, his motions feeling delayed and heavy, while the lights behind the bar streaked slightly as he moved. After blinking rapidly for several moments, he squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his fingers into the corners of them near the bridge of his nose.

He was vaguely aware that Fiy had ordered another drink before she was leading him away from the bar, taking a strong sip of the glass before offering the bottom half to him. Kal took it, downing it in a single go, barely registering the taste, as he sighed, placing it on an empty, nearby table.

Kal felt Fiy grab his hand and begin to lead him into the darkness away from the bar, however as they approached the wall, his brow furrowed in confusion, realizing that the couches were empty.

“Is this… this our booth?” he asked, glancing around.

“Not the one we all started at,” she replied, suddenly appearing directly in front of him and bringing him to a stop, “but it could be… _ours_.”

Kal grinned as he felt Fiy’s lips press against his for a moment or two. When she pulled away, he felt her hands tugging on his, guiding him into the darkened, empty couches. A moment later, he fell onto one of the cushioned surfaces, his back leaning against the arm with a sigh. A moment later, a warm weight appeared atop him, pressing him farther into the cushions. His hands instinctually reached forward, quickly finding purchase on warm skin, yet again, his fingers gently pressing at it as they slid farther across it, until his palm pressed flat against the small of Fiy’s back, pulling her more tightly against him.

The short-haired girl laughed softly as she leaned forward, pressing into a forceful kiss. Kal’s lips parted to accept the motion, and with it, the overwhelming feeling of warmth that seemed to flow into him. His motions grew more insistent as one of his hands slid from Fiy’s back under the front of her top, sliding upward across her toned stomach to her chest. As his fingers found their target, she pulled away from the kiss for a moment, exhaling heavily before bucking her hips forcefully against him.

A moment later, she resumed her assault on his lips pressing more of herself firmly against him as he felt her tongue begin to probe from between her lips, as well. The flurry of warmth, motion, and skin quickly began to melt into a single, all-encompassing sensation for several long motions until he felt the kiss break, only for Fiy’s lips to press against his jaw a moment later. They continued to press and drag along his jaw before sliding onto his neck and finally onto his collarbone, left exposed by the open top of his shirt.

At that spot, however, they stopped. A blink later, and Fiy’s face had reappeared over his, a grin tugging at her lips while her eyes remained half-closed.

“What do you say… we take this somewhere even more private?” she breathed.

Kal found his lips pulling into an easy grin as his fingers pressed gently into the small of Fiy’s back.

“If we can make our escape without the others noticing.”

“They’re all as out of it as we are,” she laughed, leaning down to press another kiss against his neck. “You can tell them I was feeling sick.”

“Hmm… think they’d believe that?” he replied.

“You can be… persuasive.”

With another kiss or two to his neck, Fiy lifted her face over Kal’s, once again, a grin tugging at her lips.

“So… what do you say?”


	4. Here Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess posts are much more of a Sunday evening event now, rather than a "middle of the night, kind of Monday morning" event. 
> 
> Anyhow, finally some plot but also... definitely aiming to set a bit of a different tone for this one than past entries.
> 
> M rating still stands.
> 
> This week's title brought to you by [A Will Away](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVEcwhASPxQ).

The first thing Lana noticed as she began to come to was the burning, dry feeling in her throat that begged for water like a planted field under the desert sun. She attempted to swallow, but the motion felt thick and awkward, with very little saliva in her mouth to even attempt it. Begrudgingly, she began to crack her eyes open, keeping them at a very narrow squint as she attempted to determine how bright the room was, however to her relief the space seemed to be rather dim, with soft, muted light spilling through a window a few yards away from her.

As she began to open her eyes more, the sensation of spinning began to overtake her and she quickly squeezed them shut, pressing her head back into the soft surface beneath her as she inhaled evenly in through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. Finally, the feeling passed and she was able to open her eyes, once again. As she did, a different feeling of imbalance came over her, prompting her brow to furrow.

The wall immediately to her left was the wrong color.

Her bedroom sported beige walls, the approximate color of desert sand, however the one beside her was a deep green.

Lana turned her head to her right carefully, staring past the wild mess of her own hair to take in what appeared to be a living room, rather than a bedroom. Much like the wall, however, it was not her own. She turned to glance down at the surface beneath her shoulder, only to note the exposed expanse of skin that immediately greeted her. Her heart rate immediately began to race as she glanced down at the rest of herself, finding a thin blanket pulled up to just below her collarbone, however as she lifted it away, she found only the wrappings about her chest covering her above her waist.

She quickly pulled the blanket back down over herself quickly, her breathing now beginning to come faster and faster as she turned to glance around the room, once again. As she did, her eyes fell on something hanging on the far wall and she paused. With each passing second, it began to feel more familiar, until she was finally able to place where she had seen it before.

“Santi…” she croaked, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

The small banner of woven cloth across from her bore the crest the brunette had once explained represented her family, as it had been made by both her mother and father when they had moved to Meridian, proper. The glyphs around it were smaller and somewhat harder to make out from a distance, but she knew they must have been the names of Santi’s parents and brothers.

Groaning, Lana released her deathgrip on the blanket to press the heels of her hands into her eyes, rubbing at them forcefully for a few moments.

“Woke up at Santi’s… no shirt… not weird… not…”

Her heart rate hadn’t slowed, but she was quickly beginning to wonder about the feeling in her chest. It felt like nervousness at first, fear even, but she was beginning to realize that it wasn’t quite that intense—or as negative. As the strange, warm, and fluttering feeling began to sink from her chest into her stomach, Lana sighed, letting her arms fall at her sides atop the blanket.

“Fuck.”

Just then, the sound of a door opening came from behind her and the auburn-haired girl froze. Soft footsteps padded across what sounded to be a wood floor, drawing closer, until they finally stopped a yard or so past Lana’s head.

“Lana?” Santi’s voice whispered softly.

The groggy and hungover girl inhaled deeply through her nose, closing her eyes for a moment, before replying.

“I’m awake.”

Santi didn’t immediately reply, her footsteps seeming to change course and move farther away from the couch for a moment. Just as Lana began to turn her head to try to see what she was doing, the sound of running water echoed across the living room. After a few seconds, it stopped, and Santi’s footsteps began to approach the couch, once again. A moment later, the brunette appeared before Lana, dressed in a loose-fitting, short-sleeved shirt that nearly matched the color of the wall and a pair of black shorts. She leaned forward, offering something held in both hands to Lana, who blinked once or twice as she attempted to focus her gaze on it.

“Figured you might want this.”

Lana’s eyebrows raised as she eagerly took the glass of water and began to prop herself up on one elbow, placing her at a better angle to drink it as quickly as possible. Sighing, she lowered the glass, nodding.

“Thanks,” she rasped.

Santi laughed, but gestured for her to hand the glass back. The auburn-haired girl obliged, and the brunette disappeared to refill it, presumably.

“How’re you feeling, other than thirsty?” she called from across the room.

“Confused,” Lana muttered.

“What’s that?”

“Tired and… maybe a little dizzy,” she called back, louder.

“I’d imagine in a slightly different way than last night,” Santi replied, approaching the couch and offering the glass, once again.

As she drew near, Lana self-consciously tugged the top of the blanket higher up her chest before taking the glass. She drained it almost as quickly as the first, but this time Santi hesitated as she took it back.

“Another?”

“In a minute,” Lana mumbled, wiping one hand over her face. “Maybe you can answer something for me, first.”

Santi let out a soft “ah” and carefully took a seat on the edge of the low table before Lana and setting the glass to her side before placing her hands together and pressing them between her knees.

“You spilled wine on your shirt,” she explained. “I threw it in with my clothes you— _also_ —spilled said wine on and washed them all.”

“O-oh…” Lana muttered, unable to hide the slight shudder in her tone and prompting her to swallow heavily. “So… normal?”

“Drunk normal,” Santi shrugged, grinning.

“Good… was worried… we… we didn’t…”

The brunette’s grin didn’t fade, but for a moment Lana thought she might have detected a hint of redness across her cheekbones, but her olive complexion hid it well enough that she wondered if she had imagined it.

“No, sorry to disappoint,” Santi finally replied.

They both laughed softly, but Lana noted how each of them carried a sense of tension; it wasn’t easy laughter, as it had been the night before.

“You, uh, were very insistent,” the brunette continued, clearing her throat, “that I see your stitches, though.”

“Was I?” the auburn-haired girl replied before groaning and falling back on the pillow behind her. “I’m so sorry…”

“It doesn’t look nearly as bad as I feared from how you were holding it when we got back yesterday,” Santi continued. “Going to leave a good scar, though.”

“Think so?”

“A scar at least,” the brunette shrugged, grinning more easily again. “Scars with stories are good ones, usually, though.”

Lana laughed, the response finally feeling easy and genuine as she shook her head slowly.

“If you say so…”

Silence fell over them for a few long moments before Santi finally cleared her throat, bringing the auburn-haired girl’s attention to her, once again.

“Hungry?”

“If I can have my shirt back, first.”

The brunette grinned, nodding as she began to rise to her feet.

“Sure thing.”

The first thing Kal noticed as he began to come to was the feeling of warmth that covered his right side, like an afternoon of the summer sun bearing down on him. He didn’t have to move much to realize that it came with a certain weight and softness, as well, and he quickly fell still, once again, settling into place atop what felt to be a soft mattress. Soon after, however, the feeling of motion moved the warmth and weight against him, and he felt the soft hints of curls brush against his jaw.

A moment later, he felt the impression of a face bury itself in his shoulder, followed shortly after by the sound of a soft sigh. Cracking his eyes open, Kal found that the space was still rather darkened, although a few beams of soft, filtered light brought a layer of grey to the scene. Quickly, his gaze focused on the impression of motion to his right, his eyes adjusting to the lighting to reveal the head of short, dark curls he had felt moments ago.

“It’s too early to be awake.”

Kal’s lips pulled into a grin as he laughed softly.

“I mean it.”

“Still that tired…?” he teased.

“Hmm… maybe…” Fiy hummed, “or maybe I just wanna stay in this moment longer.”

Kal grinned, but shifted his position slightly, managing to free his arm from under her and wrap it behind her back, instead, pressing her warmth into his side as he felt Fiy’s hand slide over his chest for a moment before rising to grip at his shoulder gently. A moment later, he felt the warm, slightly wet sensation of her lips pressed just above his collarbone. Kal’s fingers curled around her side, squeezing it slightly as he felt the sensation come again, and again, and again.

Finally, he felt her face nuzzle into the side of his neck, her lips dragging across the front of his throat for a moment before her face appeared above his.

“Changed my mind,” Fiy breathed, smirking.

Kal mirrored it before accepting the slow kiss she planted against his lips. The intensity of their motions slowly began to ramp up, until he finally felt Fiy shift her weight, lifting herself over him and planting her knees on either side of his hips before leaning down low, pressing herself tightly against his chest.

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” he quipped, “but didn’t we do this last night?”

“Perhaps,” Fiy hummed, leaning forward to nibble at his earlobe for a moment before pressing a kiss against the hinge of his jaw, “but perhaps I want to make up for two cold… long… _lonely_ nights in the wilderness…”

“Santi wasn’t good company?” Kal teased.

He heard Fiy laugh softly in his ear as her left hand squeezed his shoulder.

“Not the kind I was looking for…”

Their motions grew more intense, once again, as they ultimately switched positions, the moment culminating with Kal’s hands braced on the pillows either side of Fiy’s head, the two of them breathless and sweat-soaked. With a sigh, the dark-haired boy leaned down to place one more kiss against her before carefully lowering himself onto his side, Fiy turning onto hers to face him and slid forward, Kal’s hand quickly coming to rest in the well of her side just above her hip.

“You didn’t have anywhere to be, right?” she sighed, smirking.

“Not until later,” he shrugged.

“Good. Stay here a while.”

“Guess you convinced me.”

The next time Kal was aware of his eyes sliding open, the room was lit by much stronger, post-dawn light. He also quickly became aware that his hand was now resting on the empty side of a mattress, rather than a warm body, and he began to push himself up on one elbow. After rubbing at his eyes tiredly, he glanced around the room to find that the door to the hallway was left half-open.

With a sigh, he began to push himself to a sitting position, glancing around the floor nearby for hints of the clothes that he knew had to be somewhere nearby. Just as he spotted something that appeared to be the hem of one of his pant legs and he leaned forward across the bed, beginning to reach for it, footsteps began to echo through the doorway. Even as he remained lying flat across the mattress, one hand outstretched toward the clothing, he glanced up at the doorway to find Fiy slipping back into the room, seemingly having foregone putting on any of her own clothing before leaving earlier.

“Excuse me, miss, but there’s a dress code,” Kal smirked, his fingers finally grasping the garment on the floor and beginning to pull the pants closer to him.

“In my own apartment?” she shot back, smirking as she sidled over to the bedside. “I think I get to set that.”

Kal smirked as Fiy came to a stop before him, hands braced on her hips. Before sitting up fully, he leaned forward, pressing a slow kiss against her middle, just below her navel, before throwing himself back on the bed, beginning to pull his pants on.

“Guess that means the fun’s over?” she sighed.

“For the morning,” he shot back. “We do have somewhere to be.”

Fiy sighed softly, moving alongside the head of the bed as Kal finished tying the waistband of his pants in place and sat up, once again. As he did, the brunette came to a stop beside him, gently wrapping one arm around the back of his neck and pulling him against her chest as her other hand carded through his dark hair.

“I do suppose some of the fun is in the infrequency,” she sighed.

“For now, at least,” Kal replied, turning his head slightly before placing a soft kiss against the side of one of her breasts and lifting his gaze to smirk up at her. “I wasn’t kidding when I said we have places to be, though.”

Fiy rolled her eyes, but leaned down to place a quick kiss against his lips before releasing him. Within a few minutes, Kal had redressed, while Fiy had pulled on a deep purple silk robe, loosely tying it in front of her.

“I’m curious to hear what GAIA has to say about those machines Lana and I found out in the mountains,” he said, pulling on his boots from beside the front door, where they had been ditched in a rush the night before. “We’ve seen one or two at a time, but not a whole… little family of them, I guess.”

“You think they were working together like that?” Fiy asked, raising one eyebrow as she took a seat on the arm of her couch, folding her arms over her chest. “Like a family or a pack of some sort?”

“They weren’t killing each other, and were all seemingly living in that one ruin together,” Kal said, tying the last of his laces and straightening up. “We followed a machine that had gone on a patrol and returned. Sounds a lot like a small family or tribe—or a pack, like you said.”

“And no one has any hints about why these things have been going rogue?” she asked.

“Not that I know of,” he sighed. “Hopefully GAIA was able to pull data from our Focuses to try to determine when they went off the grid, though.”

“Well… I will certainly be intrigued,” Fiy replied, yawning. “On the other hand, if this is all figured out, we won’t have any hunts to go on.”

“Oh, I’m sure they’d find a use for us, yet,” Kal laughed, stepping over to her as the brunette rose from her seat, wrapping her arms behind his neck as his securely wrapped around her lower back, pulling her into him.

“You can be quite useful,” she hummed, smirking before they leaned into a final, slow kiss for the morning.

When they pulled apart, Kal made his exit, slipping out into the bright, morning light of Meridian. Almost immediately, he was swept up in the crowds of people making their way to work or to the markets for the day. He was able to quickly lose himself amidst the crowd, however, with no one looking twice at the somewhat disheveled boy with messy, somewhat greasy dark hair.

After a quick stop at his own apartment to take a shower and dress in clothes that weren’t quite so stained, he grabbed an apple from his kitchen counter and made his way back onto the streets. As he passed his sister’s apartment, he slowed to a stop and glanced toward the front door, chewing on the inside of his cheek for a few moments before tapping his Focus. The first thing that appeared before his eyes was a reminder of the morning meeting he had to discuss the data from the hunting trip, the glyphs made of light telling him that he was ten minutes from being late.

Cursing under his breath, he closed the interface and took off at a quick walk, soon reaching the bridge to the Palace, where a contingency of guards stood watch, although most of them appeared to show little to no concern as they lazily eyed passerby. While they still wore armor reminiscent of the traditional Carja palace guards, it had notably been modified to include much more of the modern style from the Port of incredibly interwoven material that provided at least some resistance to ammunition from rifles and other projectile weapons, which the guards also now carried themselves.

Kal’s eyes quickly scanned over the faces that stood guard, and finding no familiar one among them, simply nodded to the closest one as he passed through.

While none of their faces were familiar to him, his was most definitely familiar to many others.

His pace increased slightly, but stopped short of actually breaking into a jog as he crossed the bridge that always felt just a little too long. When he finally reached the stone dais on the far end, he headed straight for a door set into the stone construction before him, once again nodding toward the guards on duty nearby as he stopped before the steel-reinforced, wooden portal. A small, black square beside the door chirped before a blue light suddenly shot from it, scanning over his face before emitting another chirp, followed by the sound of the lock opening on the door.

“Welcome, Kallik Khane Padish.”

With that, he threw the door open and began to scurry down the steps just inside, quickly entering the bowels of the Palace. The corridors looked nearly identical as he walked, although his Focus projected the glowing, holographic names of signs on the corners of each intersection indicating which direction led to which area, but he barely paid them any attention, his feet carrying him on an all too familiar path.

Finally, he came to a stop before a set of double, wooden doors, with another black scanner outside it. The same blue light scanned his face before a different electronic chime sounded.

“Please state name and rank.”

“Kallik Khane Padish, Omega Field Operator.”

A chime sounded, once again, and the lock popped open to the sound of a buzzer. Kal twisted the handle, quickly pulling one side open and slipping inside before letting the heavy portal swing closed behind him. Almost immediately, the dark browns and golds of the stone hallways lit by artificial lights gave way to a flood of blues and purples that filled the long, wide room beyond. Workstations lined the walls, and some stood freely in the center of the room, most of them displaying some piece of information that must have been important to someone, although as the dark-haired boy glanced at them, he wasn’t sure exactly what the information on them meant.

Moving toward the far end of the room, he found a much larger construction taking up most of the floor space. On a basic level, it appeared to be a large, circular table made out of metal, although over said table hovered a holographic projection that currently seemed to be showing a map, as he recognized the mountain ranges northeast of Meridian on the right hand side.

As he approached, three figures already standing around the table turned toward the sound of his footsteps, two of them bearing nearly identical expressions.

“And here I thought you told your mom you weren’t going to be late again.”

Kal sighed, rubbing at his eyes tiredly as he came to a stop between his red-haired mother and a brunette with long, dark hair tied into a single braid that was pulled forward over her left shoulder.

“I’m not, am I, Aunt Ara?”

The redhead with a face nearly identical to his mother’s, save for a collection of piercings in her ears and sporting a hairstyle with the sides shaved short and the long top tied back into a bun at the back of her head, smirked as she tapped her Focus, shrugging.

“We’ll call it close enough.”

“Your sister, however…”

“I am sure she is fine, Anukai,” the brunette beside Kal assured, smiling softly.

“I know, but…” the braided redhead trailed off, chewing the inside of her cheek for a moment before drawing a deep breath and sighing heavily. “Nevermind, GAIA, but we can’t wait, unfortunately. Tahir asked for an update before the council meeting today, which is about three hours from now.”

The brunette nodded before straightening her posture slightly and turning to the projection before them, the image suddenly lighting up with a series of bright, red dots that scattered across it, primarily in regions north of Meridian.

“These are all of the marked locations of rogue machines identified in the past six months,” GAIA began, gesturing broadly to the map. “The spread has grown considerably over that time, with the original reports primarily appearing Northwest of Meridian.”

“Did it spread evenly?” Ara asked. “As in, from west to east?”

“No,” GAIA frowned, adjusting her stance slightly. “The indicators have seemingly appeared randomly, however one consistency I have noticed is that none of them appear closer to Meridian than this line.”

Suddenly, a curved red line appeared over the map, seemingly indicating a semi-circle that stretched from the river just south of Sunfall in the west to the mountain pass of Daytower in the east.

“That’s only from the last six months, though, right?” Anukai interjected.

“That is correct.”

“Do you have any data from… say… ten years ago?”

The red dots and line disappeared from the map for a few moments before a new set of dots appeared. There were much fewer than a moment ago, but the four figures around the table reacted in turn, making sounds in surprise or thought. Kal’s eyes scanned over the field of dots, his eyebrows raising as he noted how many more of them were closer to Meridian, with one or two seemingly in the fields around it, even.

“So they’ve been moving farther out,” Ara muttered. “Why?”

“That I cannot answer with this data, alone,” GAIA shook her head. “Returning to the original map…”

The projection reset with the same dots and line as a few moments ago as the brunette traced the curved line in the air before her with one finger.

“This line does seem to coincide with the calculated edge of a coverage zone from the MINERVA tower just outside of Meridian,” she explained, prompting the other three to exchange glances.

“What’s beyond that?” Anukai finally asked.

“With the new network we have established in the years since my full reconstruction,” GAIA explained, “multiple zones were created between smaller relay towers, many of which Ara has helped construct.”

“You’re welcome,” the short-haired redhead cut in, smirking.

Anukai rolled her eyes but returned her attention to GAIA.

“Okay, but what about them?”

“This was done to provide better and more accurate control of machines in other regions, as they have been used for more tasks that required precise control and less freedom in their operations. However, my primary control signals are still much stronger closer to the main towers, such as the Spire, as they are directly connected to my source signal from GAIA Prime. These others—” the map suddenly showed a smattering of blue triangles across it, although with much larger distances between them than the red dots, “—are able to send precise controls and commands, however overall the signal influence is reduced from them, and I am not able to take complete and direct control of them, as they are simply set up to receive commands from the primary MINERVA towers, and not to function on their own.”

“But we set them up with security so they couldn’t be controlled by just anyone,” Ara pointed out, beginning to pace along the side of the table beside GAIA.

“That is correct.”

“You’re implying that your theory is that someone else is using them, though.”

Kal’s eyebrows raised further as he folded his arms over his chest.

“That is a theory, yes,” GAIA nodded.

“Shadow Carja remnants?” Ara offered. “I mean, it’s been almost sixty years since Aloy scattered them, but… anger can fester for a long time.”

“But every indication we’ve had of them since then has been that they’ve become either desert nomads, or have even moved farther west, into the middle of nowhere,” Anukai countered. “Doesn’t sound like a coordinated nation who would suddenly have the will and means to override towers that were built long after they were even a collected force.”

“While this was a theory that occurred to me, as well,” GAIA said, “it is not one that has a high probability out of all options I have processed and analyzed.”

“So which one does?” Ara replied, coming to a stop at the edge of the table and jabbing the toe of her boot into the ground, twisting it slightly.

“There are two,” the AI woman began. “One is that there is a fault in one or more of the towers that is causing a corruption of the signal, and it is not truly malicious intent, at all.”

Ara grumbled something about “not appreciating her work” under her breath, prompting Kal to smirk, but he kept his attention on the brunette beside him.

“The other is that it may be a corruption from within Meridian.”

The group immediately fell silent, leaving only the soft hum of the workstations to fill the space for several long moments until Anukai cleared her throat.

“So… you place a high probability that… that this is caused by someone here, and not an outside force?”

GAIA’s face contorted in a frown but she ultimately nodded, prompting the braided redhead to let out a growl of frustration, rubbing at her face with her right hand as Ara threw both of hers in the air.

“Great, Tahir is going to love to hear that,” she lamented, shaking her head.

“How strong are these probabilities?” Kal asked, drawing the brunette’s attention for the first time since he entered.

“Not high,” she replied, “fifteen and fourteen-point-eight percent, each, however they are the highest of all others I have considered.”

“Not gonna love that, either…” Ara grumbled, rubbing at her eyes tiredly as she continued to pace nearby.

“Was there anything from the machines Lana and I found this week that bumped those up?” he asked, ignoring his aunt for the moment.

“That is actually what has elevated these two to where I have placed them, currently,” GAIA nodded, turning to the display as the map disappeared, a readout of what appeared to be some kind of waveforms appearing in three separate boxes, instead. “These are analyses of latent control signals picked up by your and your sister’s Focuses.”

“So wait, they _do_ have some kind of control signal?” Anukai interjected.

“They do,” the AI woman nodded. “They are not truly separated from the grid, as we theorized originally, however the control signals are… discreet. The only reason I was able to locate them was because you two were in such close physical proximity to them for an extended period of time. In analyzing these, however, I did not find a new signal, however, but… altered versions of the standard ones.”

Another set of waveforms appeared alongside the three already showing, with small circles appearing at specific points on each for a few seconds before the new images slid over the original ones, showing that the shapes were ever so slightly different in certain places.

“Therefore, whatever or whoever is causing this is not inserting new coding into these signals, but simply altering what already exists, meaning it is difficult for my systems to detect when they have slipped in among the normal signals,” GAIA explained. “As only a few machines seem to be affected at a time, and not all of them in a particular region, it appears that this is only being sent in short bursts, rather than entirely overriding a given tower.”

“So it won’t be caught,” Anukai nodded, folding her arms over her chest as she frowned slightly. “So… why only turn a few machines at a time and then… barely have them do anything? I mean, they attack people when they come across them, just like they used to decades ago, but they don’t seem to be _hunting_ people.”

“That is correct,” the AI woman nodded, folding one arm across her chest as she propped the other elbow atop her hand, cradling her chin with her free hand in thought. “It seems to be… a test.”

“A very long test,” Ara laughed dryly. “A test for what?”

“That I do not know,” GAIA replied, shaking her head as she let her arms fall by her sides, again.

“Well… we technically have something to tell Tahir,” Anukai sighed, glancing back toward the double doors at the far side of the room before frowning and turning to Kal. “Have you heard from or seen your sister this morning?”

“Not since last night,” he shook his head.

Just then, both redheads seemed to glance toward the doors, once again, as the sound of the lock opening echoed about the space. Kal glanced back, as well, to find Lana slipping in through the opening, only to pause when she saw four pairs of eyes on her. Sighing, she let the door swing closed and trudged toward them, folding her arms over her chest. Kal noted that she appeared to be wearing a noticeably loose-fitting shirt where the hem hung loose over the top of her dark, more form-fitting pants that were tucked into the tops of her mud-stained boots that appeared to have been the ones she had worn on their expedition. Her hair was tied back in a loose ponytail behind her, while her eyes sported noticeable dark circles underneath them, seeming particularly pronounced as the rest of her face appeared paler than normal.

“Feeling okay?” Anukai asked quickly, stepping away from the group to intercept her.

“Been better,” Lana muttered, but kept her arms folded over chest even as her mother came to a stop before her, blocking her path.

“If you need to stay home today…”

“I’ll survive.”

Anukai chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment before sighing and reaching to gently squeeze one of Lana’s upper arms. The auburn-haired girl felt a warm sensation shoot from the place her mother’s hand touched her, racing across her shoulder and down her spine as she shivered slightly, and nodded, but seemingly tried to join the group at the projection table. As she approached, she sighed heavily, glancing over at her brother and exchanging a quick nod.

“Let’s give Lana a brief version,” Anukai said, appearing on her left side and glancing toward GAIA.

The AI woman nodded in return before recapping their earlier discussion, the auburn-haired girl staring up at the shifting images and displays in silence until the summation was finished, leaving them in silence, once again.

“So… someone here is intentionally trying to fuck with all of the machines… maybe?” she finally said.

“Well it’s either that or we put the towers together wrong,” Ara shrugged, smirking.

“They could simply require maintenance,” GAIA countered. “Either way, I would suggest that one of those affected be investigated before committing to the theory that the code has been maliciously tampered with.”

“Well, that’ll be easier to tell Tahir,” the short-haired redhead sighed, glancing across the projection table to her sister. “Routine maintenance sounds a lot less concerning than potential espionage.”

“It does,” Anukai nodded, beginning to turn away from the table, “but let me do most of the talking to tell him that.”

“I understand all of this just as well as you do,” Ara scoffed.

“I’m not saying you don’t,” the braided redhead countered, “but _I’m_ not the one who loudly proclaimed that I ‘didn’t blame him for choosing a wife like _that_ ’ at a dinner party because I was too drunk.”

Lana’s lips cracked into a smirk as she heard Kal snort beside her. She glanced toward her aunt to find Ara’s face had gone a deep red, and her arms now appeared tightly folded over her chest.

“Was an accident…” she grumbled.

“Oh, since he’s used to your shit,” Anukai continued, smirking gleefully, “he didn’t immediately see you removed from your position, but… might be a little strange for a time.”

Ara grumbled something inaudible, but began to follow after her sister as they moved toward the double doors on the far side of the room.

“Lana, Kal, coming?” Anukai called back to them.

“You want us to meet with the prince?” Lana called back, raising her eyebrows as she turned back toward her.

“He wants to speak with you, actually.”

The auburn-haired girl exchanged a glance with her brother, both of them bearing similarly anxious expressions before they turned to GAIA on the other side of Kal.

“Sorry to leave so soon, Grandma,” he said.

“I understand,” she replied, smiling softly. “We will speak more soon, once you do not have as many duties to perform.”

The dark-haired boy nodded before wrapping one arm about her shoulders in a brief embrace and moving after the redheads. Lana also wrapped her in a quick embrace, albeit with both arms and taking care to make sure her left side was turned away slightly. The brunette’s body wasn’t as cold as some of the machines and bots around Meridian, however the firmness under her grip was much more reminiscent of her mother’s gleaming, metal arm than the body of a woman intended to be her grandmother.

Still, after a lifetime of embraces and touches, she had grown used to it.

As they pulled apart, she caught GAIA’s eyes glanced toward her left side and Lana self-consciously played with the hem of her shirt slightly. The AI woman offered a small, reassuring smile, but said nothing as she pat Lana on her back, gently goading her to follow her other family members. As she finally did, she strode quickly to catch up to the group, taking the door from Kal before following the rest of them into the hallway beyond.

“By the way, how did that incident go over with Vansa?” Anukai was saying, glancing toward her sister with a smirk.

“About as well as you’d imagine,” Ara sighed.

“Well, you’re not divorced.”

“She’s known I’m an idiot for a long time,” the short-haired redhead sighed. “She just had more ammunition.”

Lana and Kal listened in silence as their mother and aunt continued to banter and jab back and forth until they reached a staircase that twisted in an escalating spiral, where they both fell silent and attempted to compose themselves more seriously. As they reached the top of the staircase, the group exited onto an open platform under the burning mid-morning sun, prompting all four of them to squint for several long moments until their eyes had readjusted.

Glancing across the open terrace, Lana quickly spotted a small crowd of figures standing near a stone banister several yards ahead of them and on their left. The older women led the way toward them, as Lana found herself unfolding her arms, but pressing her palms into the sides of her pants, rubbing at the cold, clammy feeling that coated them. Her gaze self-consciously glanced down at her clothes and she frowned, a feeling of anxiety building in the back of her head and running down her neck.

When they finally came to a stop a few yards away from the figures, she caught the one standing in the corner of the banister, his posture casually resting against the stone structure with one elbow, glance toward them before he visibly cleared his throat and stood up straight. The man who was currently talking to him glanced toward the new arrivals before finishing whatever he was saying and the two nodded. As the man who had just been speaking stepped away, the first man turned to the group, nodding and gesturing for them to approach.

“Good morning, Tahir,” Anukai said, nodding as she approached.

“Morning, Sobecks,” he said, grinning before glancing toward Kal and nodding again, “and Khane Padish.”

Lana caught Kal shifting slightly uncomfortably out of the corner of her eye, but she didn’t turn her attention fully to him, her gaze still locked on the Carja Prince before them. He bore many of the similar features of his father, Sun King Itamen, with dark brown eyes, near-black hair, and pronounced cheekbones that seemed to often give him a somewhat intense expression, even when a grin tugged at his lips and glinted in his eyes. He wasn’t quite as tall as his father, with his shorter, slender frame seemingly more inherited from his mother, and chiefly unlike his father, a series of intricate tattoos adorned his right upper arm and ran across his chest, primarily focused around his collarbones.

Although he wore the obligatory robes of Carja royalty, he did not wear the more intricate headpiece one would expect of a Carja Sun Prince, often forgoing one entirely, unlike many of the Carja nobles still did.

“I trust you’ve had some time to talk over what our young Field Operators, here, found in the mountains to the northeast,” he said, gesturing to Lana and Kal as he raised his eyebrows expectantly.

“We have, however…” Anukai sighed, folding her arms over her chest, the silver of her left arm gleaming in the bright sunlight from overhead, “we don’t have a firm answer, unfortunately.”

“I suppose that was wishful thinking,” Tahir sighed. “Do you have any new information, at least?”

“That we do,” the redhead nodded. “GAIA was able to extract data from the children’s Focuses that told us that there are still control signals being sent to these rogue machines, unlike we previously thought.”

“So they are still controlled by an outside source, and not fully autonomous?” the prince replied, seeming much more interested suddenly.

“That would seem to be the case, yes.”

“Is there a purpose to this that you’ve found? A potential explanation for who or what?”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have answers for the latter,” Anukai shook her head. “Lana and Kal might be able to offer insight if there seemed to be a purpose.”

Both siblings quickly stiffened as Tahir turned his attention to them, still seeming incredibly interested, but remaining silent as he expectantly waited for them to begin talking. After several long moments, they exchanged glances and Kal cleared his throat.

“We found several Scorchers and Watchers inside an old ruin, in the mountains,” he began. “They appeared to be… working together… _living_ together, if you will.”

Tahir only seemed more interested as he folded his arms over his chest.

“They didn’t appear to be operating entirely independently, so whatever is causing them to go off of GAIA’s grid—our grid—isn’t entirely unshackling them any sort of order, but… redirecting it.”

Tahir nodded slowly, raising one hand to rub at his chin in thought as he began to pace, keeping a short span of only a yard or so in the corner of the banisters.

“Do we have reason to believe this is caused by a person or a group, or is it still seemingly random?” he asked, glancing between the gathered group.

“GAIA has… two main theories,” Anukai said slowly. “Neither have extremely high probabilities, according to her… but one is that it’s simply a malfunction of the relay towers.”

After a few moments of silence, Tahir came to a stop, facing Anukai as his eyebrows raised.

“And the other?”

Anukai and Ara exchanged glances before the braided redhead drew a deep breath.

“The other is that GAIA’s standard code is being intentionally corrupted and sent out to these machines in small batches… from within our own network.”

Another few moments of silence passed before Tahir cleared his throat, adjusting his stance slightly.

“So this is suggesting… sabotage from within the Sundom?” he asked in a hushed tone.

“Possible from within Meridian, itself,” Ara finally chimed in, drawing Tahir’s attention for a moment before his head hung and he rubbed at his eyes tiredly.

“You said these theories don’t come with high certainty, however, correct?”

Anukai and Ara shook their heads, prompting the prince to nod in response, his eyes glazed as he seemed lost in thought for a moment, his jaw working tensely. After a few long moments he nodded more forcefully, clarity returning to his eyes as he cleared his throat.

“Let’s find out if it’s the former,” he said. “How can we check on these towers?”

“Send a group out to one, to check on it and perform diagnostics in person,” Anukai replied. “If the issue stems from signals being sent from here being corrupted, doing so remotely may not turn up much of anything.”

“How big of a team?”

“One or two people who are familiar with the systems, and maybe a few for protection, just in case.”

Tahir nodded, his eyes flicking to the siblings for a moment as both of them swallowed nervously.

“I would ask one or both of you to go,” he said, turning back to Anukai and Ara, “but I feel that your valuable expertise is needed here. Do you have others who you trust who can perform these tasks?”

“We can think of some,” Ara nodded.

“Gather two of them,” Tahir said before turning to Lana and Kal. “I know you just returned, but as you’ve already proven valuable and trustworthy…”

“We’ll go,” Lana said quickly, prompting a seeming start in surprise from her brother, although she kept her gaze focused on the prince. “We’ll find two more for our party, just in case though.”

“Four seems a safe number,” Tahir agreed. “Again, make sure you can trust them.”

The siblings nodded before the prince let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head as he began to pace slowly, once again.

“This will not be a fun council meeting…”


	5. Burning Sands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figured things needed to kick it up a notch this week.

“I know he said that you had just gotten back when he asked, but—”

“It’s fine, we’ll go now.”

Anukai’s mouth hung open mid-thought for a moment before she sighed, her shoulders deflating as she leaned against the console behind her, folding her arms over her chest.

“Should be easy, right?” Lana said, glancing at Kal beside her before turning back to their red-haired mother. “We take a VTOL, we fly out to that relay tower you mentioned, we get it checked out, and we’re back. Few hours, at most—back before sunset.”

The older redhead still looked unconvinced, her lips twisting into a slight frown, prompting Kal to chime in.

“You won’t even need to tell Mom to hold up dinner.”

Finally, Anukai’s expression cracked as she laughed, shaking her head as she hung it forward, coming to a stop with her chin almost resting against her chest for a moment before her eyes closed and she inhaled deeply through her nose.

“Fine. I’ll put the emergency request in for a VTOL,” she said, lifting her gaze to meet her children’s, once again. “I’ll also find the two people to check the tower.”

“Actually,” Kal said quickly, drawing the other two’s attentions as he cleared his throat, “I think… I might know at least one person for that job, too.”

Anukai raised her eyebrows as he caught Lana folding her arms over her chest out of the corner of his eye.

“Junayd,” he continued. “He’s good with that kind of stuff. Helped tweak the field boosters that let our Focuses call the VTOL pilots from out in the mountains…”

The elder redhead nodded slowly, her lips drawing into a thin line before she ultimately nodded more emphatically.

“Okay, Junayd is one,” she said, “but I’m also picking Ahmed, as well. Not that I don’t trust you two, or people your age—”

Anukai glanced between the siblings.

“—but I would feel better if someone a little more… senior went, as well.”

“Understood,” Kal replied, nodding curtly.

“Okay, well… in that case: be safe, don’t do anything stupid, and make sure you stick to Mom’s schedule to be home in time for dinner, as best you can, okay?” Anukai said, smirking as she pushed off the console and approached her children, placing one hand on each other their shoulders.

“Yes, Mother,” Lana sighed, rolling her eyes.

“Good. By the time you get down to the field, everything should be good to go.”

With that, she quickly wrapped them in a brief, group embrace, each of the siblings returning it with one arm before she pat them on their backs and released them to begin their preparations. As soon as they were out of earshot of the door to the console room and making their way up a narrow, twisting staircase toward the bridge level of the Palace, Lana cleared her throat, drawing her brother’s attention.

“So… I assume Fiy will be coming with us?” she asked, smirking.

“Will Santi be, as well?”

The auburn-haired girl grumbled something under her breath but fell silent as they made their way across the bridge and into the city, itself. They separated at the street to Lana’s apartment, once again, with Kal continuing on toward his own to retrieve his equipment. Before grabbing a new set of clothing that would better suit a trip into the desert with more potential danger, Lana stepped into her bathroom, tapping the switch for the lights above her mirror without looking.

As she came to a stop before her own reflection, she lifted the bottom of her shirt with her left hand, carefully reaching to run her fingers along the edges of the stitches from the day before and grimacing slightly at the sensation. The pain wasn’t too great as she had taken some of the painkillers Vansa had given her earlier that morning, but the hair on the back of her neck stood up at the thought of wearing restrictive clothing that would constantly rub up against it for the rest of the day.

As a shiver ran down her spine, she turned away from the mirror, absentmindedly flicking the lights off as she to the left and entered her bedroom. Within a few minutes, she had pulled on her field gear of an off-white, long-sleeve shirt underneath a black, tactical vest with plenty of pockets and holsters for her equipment, and a pair of black pants that were made out of an almost slippery, synthetic material that had been an import from the Port.

Once everything was tied and secured, she couldn’t resist patting at her side, grimacing slightly at the pressure from the gesture, but noting that the pain appeared to be dulled, for the time being. Sighing, she turned from her wardrobe, tying her hair into a ponytail behind her before swiping a decently-sized hunting knife off the small, wooden table by the door to her room.

Out of habit, she slid it half from its sheath, running her finger along the flat side of the blade before glancing at the handle, which was wrapped in dyed leather in a swirling pattern of blue and yellow, with each color having faded slightly over time due to use. Still, a small smirk tugged at her lips as she rubbed her thumb over the carved pattern at the farthest end of the handle, the design reminiscent of those painted on the outer walls of her mothers’ home.

Sighing, she slid the knife fully into its sheath before tying the leather holder to an open strap on her vest, at her left side. After a quick stop in her kitchen to down several glasses of water, she wiped at her mouth the back of her hand and pulled on her still-mud-stained boots by the front door. Once the laces were tied, she clapped her hands together, trying to shake loose the worst of the dried earth that had transferred to them before making her way outside, locking the front door behind her before tapping at her Focus to check the time.

As she closed the interface, she took off at a brisk walk through the rapidly filling Meridian streets until she reached the lines for the elevators to the lower city. Thankfully, the lines to descend from the mesa weren’t long in the morning, so she was able to enter the next available car, pressing herself against the far corner and generally keeping her right shoulder toward the others around her. When the car came to a stop at the bottom of its journey with a slight shudder, she impatiently waited for the others to file out ahead of her before slipping out into the bright, mid-morning sunlight.

Immediately, she was hit by the wall of sound and commotion as the tradespeople and merchants of the lower city had already begun their work in full swing, unlike the offices and councils of the mesa, above. Lana made her way through the crowds and bustle until she reached the small field filled with dark trucks lined side-by-side, the haze easily visible over their hoods from the heat generated by the running engines beneath.

The auburn-haired girl took a place in the line waiting to board one of the vehicles, wiping at her forehead with the back of her arm as beads of sweat had begun to run down it, already.

“Day out in the desert… at the tail end of summer…” she muttered under her breath, “not going to be uncomfortable, at all.”

As she reached the man on duty for taking names and checking them on the registry, he glanced up at her, only for his brow to furrow in confusion.

“Sobeck, I don’t remember seeing your name on any sorties today,” he said, swiping across the screen of a small device in his hand several times.

“Special duty,” Lana replied. “Just got added less than an hour ago.”

The man’s eyes flicked up to meet hers before he lifted his head to match them, raising one eyebrow.

“Let me guess—”

“Ask my mother.”

He laughed and shook his head before jerking one thumb over his shoulder.

“Number four.”

With a smirk, she made her way to the back of the indicated truck and climbed inside, choosing the last seat on the right side, and hoping that no others would choose to sit beside her. A few moments later, thankfully, the rear gate closed and the rumble of the engine began to fill her ears. The drive out to the VTOL fields was somewhat bumpy, but only one or two jolts were hard enough to make Lana wince and squirm in her seat, pressing her left elbow against her side tightly.

As the truck slowed to a stop and the gate opened, the auburn-haired girl was the first to hop out, her boots kicking a small cloud of dust from the dry ground as she landed. Almost as soon as they had touched down, however, she was making her way toward a long, wooden building ahead of her. Several, small, metal chimneys spewed smoke and a seeming general haze from them, but as she drew closer, the smell that hung in the air was more of burning firewood, rather than the acrid, artificial scent of the vehicles’ fuel.

Lana stepped to the side of a group of figures dressed in similar tactical gear as herself, all holding gleaming, black rifles with the ammunition cartridges removed. She spared a quick glance inside the doorway to make sure no one else was approaching before slipping inside, herself. Immediately, the cacophony of rumbling engines and shouting voices was replaced by an overall din of voices: laughing, yelling, arguing, and everything in between. The portion Lana had entered was primarily filled with people seated at rows and rows of tables, while a long line stood at a counter to her left, waiting for their share of the morning’s food on a metal plate.

Despite the smell of the cooking, fatty meat and eggs making her mouth water, Lana pressed onward, moving toward the far end of the building, where large, holographic screens projected maps and seemingly large lists of information on various screens along both sides of the building, as well as some small huddles that had formed in the center of the space. Her gaze swept over the groups until she found one that wasn’t staring at images of maps, which prompted her to refine her searching, scanning the faces of the crowd gathered before the woman dressed in clothing reminiscent of an Oseram Forgewoman.

After a few moments, Lana spotted the face she was looking for and grinned, cutting through the crowds of people until she approached her target. As she reached the outer edge of the crowd, she turned sideways and began to lithely slip between the stationary figures to a few grumblings, but no one made any motion to stop her.

When she came to a stop, she made to intentionally hip check Santi just hard enough to surprise her, but not knock her over. The olive-skinned girl jumped in surprise, her head whipping around to face Lana, finding her staring back with a smirk.

“Morning to you, too,” Santi sighed before her face contorted in confusion. “Thought you weren’t on maintenance detail today?”

“I’m not,” Lana said before nodding away from the crowd. “You’re not either. Come on.”

The brunette’s confusion only seemed to deepen as she opened her mouth, only to be interrupted by the booming voice of the woman at the front of the crowd.

“Operators Sobeck and Kokkinos, may I ask why you are interrupting our morning briefing?” she called, her gaze intense as she focused on the two girls.

“Sorry, I need Kokkinos for a special sortie,” Lana called back, tugging on Santi’s elbow to urge her to follow away from the crowd, still.

“Under whose authorization?”

“Anukai Sobeck.”

“Convenient,” the woman drawled, her expression conveying her lack of surprise and skepticism, but Lana ignored her as she finally succeeded in tugging Santi hard enough that she gave in and followed.

As they made their way out of the crowd, the olive-skinned girl grabbed Lana’s arm, instead, bringing her to a stop.

“Are you going to actually tell me what’s going?” she asked quietly, glancing back toward the crowd they had just exited.

Lana chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment, maintaining Santi’s eye contact before drawing a deep breath through her nose.

“We’re going out into the desert—out and back—on a bit of a… maintenance mission.”

“A maintenance mission?” Santi replied, unconvinced. “Since when does your mother authorize special maintenance missions?”

“Since they relate to the reason we went out on our last hunting sortie,” Lana hissed, leaning in close so only the other girl could hear her.

Santi’s eyebrows raised slightly and Lana simply gave a small nod in response.

“So… let’s go see Ida and get you dressed, and both of us armed.”

A few moments later, they had exited into the bright sunlight and rumbling of the VTOL fields outside, the auburn-haired girl leading the way as they snaked their way between various crowds and equipment until they reached another, similarly-built wooden building nearby. Upon entering, the sounds of metal clinking and banging filled the air, along with similarly loud voices, but they pressed past the din until they reached the familiar counter at the far end with a wire gate covering the front, allowing the gap just large enough to slide weapons under at the bottom.

Lana’s face quickly contorted into a frown as she noted Ida was not standing behind the counter, but instead a man with a shaved head and skin nearly as dark as the rifle he was cleaning. She glanced around the room for a few moments, but didn’t spot the familiar head of chestnut hair or hear the loud calling of her name she had come to expect, prompting her to sigh as she led the way to the armory window, anyway.

“Morning,” she said as she came to a stop against the counter, “we’ll need a vest for my friend here and some arms for a sortie today.”

“What’s your detail number?” the man asked, not looking up from his work.

“I… don’t know.”

He laughed in response, dropping the rag in his hand on the table and pulling on the cocking mechanism of the weapon.

“Once you know, feel free to tell me and I’ll get you sorted.”

Lana’s jaw worked tensely in annoyance for a moment, a tight feeling building in her chest as her hands instinctually began to curl into fists on the counter before her. Just as the vitriol rising in her throat threatened to break free of her lips, a singular, loud voice cut through the overall dine of the building from behind her.

“Up and at ‘em so early?”

She quickly pushed away from the counter, turning around to find Ida making her way from the front door, a faded, olive green bag of some kind slung over her right shoulder.

“After the way you left last night, I thought I wouldn’t be seeing you until tomorrow, at least,” the brunette continued, approaching the two girls and coming to a stop before them, glancing toward Santi. “I see you kept her alive.”

“Did my best,” the olive-skinned girl replied, laughing as Lana detected a slight… uncertainty to the sound.

Her gaze shifted to Santi for a moment, but Ida quickly drew her attention, once again.

“So anyhow,” she sighed, “what’re you doing here, anyway? Never seen them schedule you back to back.”

“Special sortie,” Lana replied.

“Really now?” Ida said, raising one eyebrow. “From whom?”

“Mother.”

“Must be real important if Mama Sobeck is asking you to go right back out,” the brunette laughed. “Want to fill me in on it?”

“I… full details later,” Lana said, leaning in toward Ida. “I’m not sure how hushed this is supposed to be, but Tahir asked us to go, too.”

The other girl’s eyes widened as both eyebrows shot up.

“Well, that does sound important.”

Turning to the counter beside them, her expression quickly adopted her trademark smirk as she rapped her knuckles on the wooden surface.

“Has Cabby been a problem, then?”

“I told you not to call me that,” the man behind the wire grating sighed. “You know the rules, Ida. We need a detail number to give out equipment.”

“And I know that this is a special request from two people far above us,” the brunette shot back. “I’ll get them sorted, then.”

“Ida…”

“Cabby…”

The man sighed in exasperation, shaking his head as Ida grinned and moved to a door set into the wall to the left, holding her hand over a scanner until it let out a synthetic chime and she pushed the portal open. A few moments later, she appeared on the other side of the wire, bag now off her shoulder, sighing as she pulled her hair back, slipping her typical band in place to hold it out of the way.

“So, what do you need?”

A few minutes later, Santi had donned a vest similar to Lana’s, albeit with more armor plating built into it, as Ida only had the heavier version available, while both girls took rifles of their own. The auburn-haired girl specifically requested one with an attachment below the barrel for firing explosives, prompting the brunette behind the wire grating to raise her eyebrows in curiosity.

“Can’t be too prepared,” Lana smirked, shoving the ammunition for it into the holsters on her vest and securing them in place.

“So, just the two of you today?” Ida asked, leaning against the far side of the counter.

“Kal’s coming, too,” she replied.

“And Fiy?”

Lana gave her a knowing look and they both laughed.

“You seen him since those two ran off last night?” Ida asked.

“This morning,” the auburn-haired girl nodded.

“Did he have any battle scars of his own?”

Lana rolled her eyes as Ida laughed heartily. A moment later, the brunette’s eyes flicked over Lana’s head and she nodded to something in the distance.

“Speaking of…”

The auburn-haired girl turned to follow her gaze, finding a group of four approaching them, led by her dark-haired sibling and a smirking Fiy beside him, both already dressed in their equipment for the day.

“Noticed you two showed up late,” Ida called. “Any particular reason?”

“We had to get Junayd and Ahmed,” Kal shot back, coming to a stop at the counter beside his sister and glancing over at her. “Bringing the heavy weapons this time, I see.”

“We’re supposed to be protection,” she shot back, slipping the strap to the rifle over her shoulder and hiking it against her back, “so figured we’d want to be prepared to protect against anything.”

Kal nodded, turning back to Ida just as she slid a rifle under the gap in the metal gate to him.

“And—” he began, only to stop as she slid another weapon after it, smirking.

The dark-haired boy grinned as he grabbed the sling, as well, jamming it into a holster on his belt before collecting his rifle, slinging it over one shoulder like Lana had earlier.

“If you’ve got any armor for these two,” Fiy chimed in, gesturing to the two remaining figures behind her, “it would be much appreciated.”

“We talking full body armor or like… protect from a few dings and scratches?” Ida asked, smirking.

“Something between, if you have it,” she replied. “Don’t want my brother to get speared, but also perhaps not buckle under the weight.”

“I am not weak,” Junayd chimed in indignantly.

“I know, but you also haven’t trained in fifty pounds of body armor, before,” Fiy shot back, glancing over her shoulder at him.

The boy grumbled something under his breath, but didn’t outwardly press the subject further as Fiy handed him a black vest that seemed similarly armored as Santi’s, Junayd wordlessly pulling it on as Kal handed a similar one to Ahmed. The older man wore a slight smile as he watched the younger members of the group interact, pulling on the offered vest without complaint. Upon first glance, Ahmed seemed older than Anukai, as more of his hair showed signs of grey and his face bore more signs of wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, but his eyes still retained the brightness and alertness of someone who may have actually been younger than her.

“So, we all ready to go?” Lana asked, glancing around at the group.

“We’re wasting daylight,” Fiy replied, slinging her weapon over her shoulder and smirking. “Shall we?”

With a roll of her eyes, Lana turned to begin leading the way out of the armory, although Kal hesitated a moment to glance back at Ida.

“We’ll bring your children back in good shape.”

The brunette smirked, pointing a finger accusatorily at him through the gate.

“You better.”

Kal returned the gesture before turning to hurry after the rest of the group. As he fell in step behind Ahmed, they stepped into the bright light and commotion of the VTOL field, once again. Lana led the group out of the way of the door to the building before tapping at her Focus. As he waited for her to lead the way to their ride to the relay tower, Kal quietly slid in beside Fiy, leaning in to speak as softly as he could manage over the general din around them.

“Junayd ever been on a trip into the field?”

“He’s left Meridian, if that’s what you mean,” she shot back, smirking.

“Well yes, but… for something like this?”

The curly-haired brunette sighed, glancing toward her brother on the other side of Ahmed before turning back to Kal.

“It means a lot that you vouched for him.”

The dark-haired boy’s lips drew into a thin line as he nodded, attempting to contort his expression into a smile as he did, however it came out more like a grimace. Just then, Lana tapped at her Focus, once again and waved for the others to follow her. Wordlessly, the rest of the group fell in step, marching through the crowds of pilots, field operators, and maintenance crew members, until they came to a particular VTOL. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be a crew working on the craft, however when they made their way to the back door, they found a man dressed in the typical pilot’s gear beginning to step from within.

“You my surprise sortie, today?” he called, glancing around at the small group.

“Looks like it,” Lana replied, nodding.

“Well, should be all good to go just as soon as the maintenance head signs off on us,” the pilot nodded before gesturing over his shoulder. “Feel free to get seated.”

The small group obeyed, slipping inside the still craft and finding their way to the seats at the far end of the cargo area. As they all found their own, Kal noting that Santi had quickly taken the seat beside Lana, the dark-haired boy stood at the front of the compartment, just before the door to the cockpit.

“Most of you have a general idea of what we’re doing, today,” he began, his voice echoing off the metal walls of the machine around him, “but I figured it might be good to be a little more specific. We’re going to visit a relay tower for GAIA’s signals to the all the machines out in the wild about ten miles north of the old Sunfall ruins. Ahmed and Junayd will run diagnostics on the tower, itself, and check for any unknown or errant transmissions that could be causing the rogue machines to go off the grid. The four of us—”

He gestured to himself, Fiy, Lana, and Santi.

“—are protection. With the rising numbers of rogue machines, we didn’t want to be caught off guard and unprepared. Ideally… this is a quick out and back, home before sunset trip.”

The others nodded, except Santi, who turned to Lana beside her, leaning in toward her slightly.

“Starting to get why you didn’t want to go around talking about where we’re going or why…” she muttered.

Lana laughed dryly and nodded, idly tossing the barrel of her rifle from one hand to the other while the stock remained planted on the ground between her feet, the ammunition receive empty. A few minutes later, the pilot appeared at the end of the ramp at the back of the VTOL, trudging inside the craft and glancing around at the gathered group.

“Cleared to fly,” he said, smirking. “Strap in everyone, and we’ll get going.”

A round of nods answered him as he slipped into the cockpit and disappeared from view. The entire VTOL began to vibrate as the deep rumbling of the engines filled the compartment. A few moments later, the ramp raised, locking closed with a heavy, metallic clunk. The rumbling and whirring sounds about them continued to build in volume and pitch until synthetic chimes sounded in each passenger’s ears.

“Initiating take-off. Last reminder to sit down and strap in.”

Finally, the engines seemed to reach their fever pitch as the entire craft lurched. Soon, the familiar, sinking feeling appeared in Kal’s stomach as the VTOL seemed to float off the ground, rotating and turning slightly in place as he leaned his head back against the outer wall behind him, sighing heavily. After a minute or so of the feeling of floating upward, the motion seemed to stop, only for the craft to pitch forward slightly and the dark-haired boy felt himself pushed to his left slightly, away from the nose of the VTOL, as they began their journey toward the desert.

“Successfully underway,” the pilot chimed in, once again. “Should reach target in just over an hour.”

Kal sighed, sinking lower in his seat and folding his arms over his chest. He rolled his head toward Fiy beside him before nudging her with his elbow. When she glanced over, he leaned in close to her ear so he didn’t have to entirely shout.

“Wake me up when we get there.”

She rolled her eyes, but grinned as he straightened up and closed his eyes. The constant vibration and rumbling from the engines that coursed through the VTOL made it easy for Kal to drift into a sleep-like state, and seemingly in much less time than the pilot had said, a synthetic chime rang in his ear, prompting his eyes to flutter open.

“We’re on final approach. Landing in five minutes.”

Kal wiped at his eyes with one hand as he sat up in his seat, glancing around to find that the others seemed to be similarly preparing themselves, although none looked as if they were also waking from sleep. Rolling his neck, he glanced to his left to find Fiy turned toward her brother on the other side of her. Junayd looked visibly more nervous than everyone else, and although Kal couldn’t hear what she was saying to him, the way her hand sat perched on his knee and other small cues in her body language told him that she was attempting to reassure him.

A few moments later, the VTOL pitched forward and began to bank to the left, bringing with it a sinking feeling in Kal’s stomach. Junayd quickly shut his eyes, his body growing tense as Fiy’s hand visibly tightened around his knee. Within a minute, however, the forward motion of the VTOL slowed to a stop as it began to descend slowly toward the ground. After several long seconds, the craft came to a short stop with a heavy, metallic clunk that reverberated through the passengers in their seats.

“Touchdown is good,” the pilot chimed in their ears. “Opening cargo hatch.”

Kal sighed heavily, unbuckling his restraints and rose from his seat, the others following suit. He noted how Junayd, in particular, shot from his seat and anxiously turned toward the rear of the craft. As the hatch lowered, the dark-skinned boy led the way out of the VTOL and onto the sandy ground outside, leaving Fiy to exchange an exasperated glance with Kal.

Stepping out of the craft, the dark-haired boy was immediately hit by the wave of dry, unrelenting heat that seemed to hang over the sandy ground, the harsh sunlight prompting him to squint for several long moments. As the group moved farther away from the rear of the craft, Kal turned in place, attempting to gain his bearings, until his eyes caught sight of their target atop a small incline to the south.

The relay tower looked similar to the Spire outside of Meridian, with angular, metal plating that seemed to twist and undulate back and forth, while still ultimately building a tower that stretched straight into the sky. Although he had not stood at the base of the Spire many times, he recalled that it seemed to be taller than this particular relay, and unlike the sense of grandness that came from the stone ruins that surrounded the Spire, the relay tower seemed almost unceremoniously placed by itself, with no other major, identifying landmarks around it.

“All right, let’s get this over with,” he called, waving the group on as he began to lead the way up the incline before them.

By the time he reached the top, he could feel the beads of sweat rolling down the sides of his face and down his back, under his shirt. Wiping at his face with the back of his hand, he came to a stop at the edge of a rather steep drop off about ten yards past the relay tower, glancing over the edge of it toward yet another expanse of ground a good fifty yards or so below. Sighing, he turned to make his way back to the base of the metal construction, glancing up toward the top for a moment before turning back to find Junayd and Ahmed approaching, as well.

“Trust you know what to do from here?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Both of them nodded and Kal gestured to the tower, stepping aside.

“Have at it. We’ll be close by.”

With that, he made his way to the other three standing nearby, all of them now holding their rifles at ease across their chests before them. Kal drew one of the cartridges of ammunition from his vest and slotted it into place, ensuring that the metallic click signaling the receiver had taken hold sounded before he drew the cocking mechanism back.

“Well this is… not as exciting as I thought it might be,” Fiy commented as he approached, the brunette scanning over the barren landscape around them.

“Yeah, I actually wasn’t expecting it to be… this remote,” Kal replied.

“We’re only ten miles north of old Sunfall, right?” she said.

“That’s what the map said.”

“Why would they build a place to live somewhere like this?” Santi muttered, also eying the expanses of sand in every direction, the line between where the sand ended and the distant mountains began a hazy, blurry mass from the heat.

“Well, Meridian exists,” Kal shot back.

“On the cusp between the desert and a rainforest,” Lana chimed in. “I don’t see any water here.”

The dark-haired boy nodded, but remained silent as he attempted to keep his back to the worst of the direct sun, but as it was nearly noon, there seemed to be no good way to escape it, the blazing ball of light almost directly overhead.

“So… now that we’re all the way out here,” Fiy began, folding her arms casually over her weapon before her, “will either of you tell us exactly why we came?”

Kal and Lana exchanged glances before the dark-haired sibling cleared his throat.

“I already said it’s because of the rogue machines.”

“You did,” Fiy nodded, her gaze boring into his, “but I sense that’s not all of it.”

The boy’s lips drew into a thin line for a moment before he sighed, shaking his head.

“The rogue signals seem to be originating from within our own network, from within GAIA’s, and this one was one of the closest relay towers so our mother and GAIA wanted to check it to see if we could determine how and why they were getting mixed in with the normal signals.”

“Inside our network?” Santi interjected, her eyebrows raising. “So… potentially…”

“We don’t know, yet,” Lana said quickly. “That’s… why we’re here.”

The other two girls’ lips pulled into thin lines as they exchanged glances, but they didn’t press the topic further, for the time being.

Time seemed to tick by incredibly slowly as the small security detail milled about the open, sandy ground, the two men at the tower seemingly wrapped up in their work, still. Kal found himself checking his Focus every few minutes, hoping that more than five had gone by, only to find it had often been less.

“How long does… doing whatever they’re doing… take?” Santi sighed, holding one hand above her eyes as she glanced up the incline toward the tower.

“I’d hoped not long…” Lana mumbled.

“They’re not GAIA,” Kal said. “Can’t go quite as fast as an AI.”

Santi made a sound somewhere between a sigh and a whimper as she kicked at some of the loose sand nearby, resuming a vaguely circular, pacing pattern she had been following for the past several minutes.

Just then, however, Kal’s Focus chimed in his ear, prompting him to start in surprise.

“I have been monitoring progress and your location,” GAIA’s voice followed the chime. “I have detected something… strange… in your vicinity.”

The dark-haired boy’s hair on the back of his neck began to stand on end as he glanced around to find the others also glancing between each other, eyebrows raising slightly as hands gripped weapons a little tighter.

“What do you mean strange?”

“Readings indicate strange seismic activity within a half of a mile of the tower,” GAIA continued, “and seemingly growing closer.”

“What’s that mean?” Santi asked quickly.

“Something’s shaking the ground,” Fiy answered, her jaw visibly clenching.

“The patterns do not lead me to believe it is organically occurring.”

Kal swore under his breath as he gripped his rifle, holding it more tightly before him, as well.

“I think it’s time we check on Ahmed and Junayd,” he said. “See if they’re nearly done.”

The rest of the group nodded and they began to make their way toward the top of the incline at a jogging pace, their movement slowed by the loose sand and the slope of the ground. As they reached the top, they found the two men still standing before the base of the tower, seemingly pointing at things in the air before them, although the small, yellow lights at their ears indicated that their Focuses were active.

“Hey, you two,” Kal called as they approached, “how’s it going? Almost finished?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Ahmed replied, his voice raspy as he turned from whatever they had been discussing to the approaching group. “There… is something strange here, with the code.”

“Is it… currently happening?” Lana pressed, raising her eyebrows.

“Something did just happen a few minutes ago that was… unexpected,” he said, brow furrowing in confusion. “Why?”

“Shit…”

The siblings exchanged glances before Kal cleared his throat.

“GAIA, are you able to pull what they just found?”

“I have already and have begun analyzing it,” she confirmed. “Kal, the seismic activity is now within a quarter of a mile.”

“Okay, we’re going now, then,” he said, nodding, returning his focus to Ahmed and Junayd. “We’re leaving.”

“But we came here to—”

“Something else is coming, and we need to be gone, now,” he interrupted, jerking his head in the direction of the VTOL. “Let’s go.”

Junayd’s eyes widened as he glanced toward Ahmed, the older man’s jaw set firmly as he nodded, tapping at his Focus and patting the younger man on his shoulder.

“Let’s go.”

Just then, Santi’s voice rang out across the open sand from behind them.

“Motion to the north!”

Immediately, all four armed group members whirled in the direction she had indicated, raising their weapons to ready positions. Kal scanned the open ground for signs of motion for several moments before he finally spotted it: a strange ripple across the surface of the sand, carving across the landscape toward the east, vaguely, while drawing closer to them, overall. The dark-haired boy tapped his Focus, bringing the interface to life around him, but it didn’t reveal the shape or full location of what moved beneath the sand.

“Contact, Stormbird Actual,” he barked, the interface suddenly opening a window indicating a connection with the pilot of the VTOL had been opened. “Motion at our position, underground, recommend you scramble.”

“Copy that, I see it.”

With that, Kal closed his interface, renewing his grip on his weapon as he tracked the moving sand. Just then, the sound of the VTOL engines firing up echoed across the open ground, and the craft began to lift into the air.

“Where’s he going?!” Junayd shouted.

“He’s going to circle,” Kal replied.

“That’s our way out of here, and it’s leaving us!”

“It _is_ our way out of here, and it won’t do any good to us if it’s destroyed by sitting on the ground,” he shot back. “Stay behind us and do exactly as we say.”

Just then, Kal caught sight of a second set of motion that seemed to break off from the first, moving toward where the VTOL had been moments ago.

“Second contact!” he called.

“What are they?” Junayd asked, his panicked breathing clearly audible.

Before anyone could answer, the shape to the left suddenly burst from the sand in a shower of tan. As the earth fell away from around it, the shape of the large, vaguely cylindrical body came to rest on the surface, two massive, clawed feet digging into the ground before it as a mouth full of spinning, sharp teeth faced them, the internal workings rumbling and clanking even from a distance of a hundred yards or so.

“Rockbreakers!”

At the sound of Junayd’s voice, the machine suddenly seemed to hyper focus on the group, facing them down with a set of glowing, red eyes on either side of the gaping, thrashing maw, before suddenly diving forward under the sand, once again.

“Back, toward the ledge!” Kal commanded, waving behind him to Junayd and Ahmed.

“The ledge?! We can’t run, there!”

“Do it, now!”

Beside him, Fiy suddenly turned back to her brother and the older man, the sounds of commotion coming from behind Kal, but he didn’t turn to look. Instead, his eyes traced the incoming ripples of the machines as they approached, seemingly drawn by the sounds of Junayd’s shouting and the ensuing scuffle.

The group slowly began to back toward the drop off to the desert floor below, those not wrangling the non-armed members of the group keeping their weapons raised and at the ready. Kal spared a quick glance back to find that the other three had reached the ledge, and the rest of them were drawing close. Tapping his Focus, once again, he turned back to the scene before him.

“Stormbird, we’re going to need a no-land pickup on this cliff face here.”

“Copy that, circling in.”

Kal kept his eyes on the signs of the Rockbreakers drawing closer as the sounds of the VTOL’s engines began to grow louder behind him. A moment later, he felt someone’s hand on his shoulder and he came to a stop, barking out a short command to the other two to stop, as well, before they accidentally walked off the cliff.

Just as the shapes seemed to reach the edge of the incline toward the tower, however, the signs of motion stopped, and Kal frantically searched the open ground before them, but couldn’t find their trail, once again.

“Anyone see them?”

“Nothing,” Lana called back.

Kal gave one last glance over the open ground before glancing back to see that the VTOL was now closing in the final few yards to hover off the edge of the cliff, the rear cargo door beginning to lower. The dark-haired boy glanced to Fiy beside him, nodding toward the approaching craft.

“Get ‘em on first.”

She nodded, turning back to Junayd and Ahmed and placing her hands on their backs, yelling instructions between them. When the VTOL came to a stop, hovering a few feet from the cliff face, Fiy urged Junayd forward. He hesitated for a moment before jumping toward the open ramp before him, stumbling slightly as he landed, but quickly scrambling further inside the craft. Ahmed went next, hopping the gap onto the craft and making his way to the entrance, where he turned and grabbed a handle on the inside of the hull, holding out one hand and waving for the others to follow him.

Just then, the sound of a deep, mechanical roaring came from the direction of the hill behind them and Kal whirled around to find one of the Rockbreakers had burst from the ground, once again, and was sliding across the sand directly toward them.

“Incoming!”

He quickly grabbed Fiy’s arm and dragged her after him as he dove to the right. The sounds of the VTOL’s engines whining under a sudden increase in power echoed across the open cliff top, followed soon after by the sounds of a scream. As they stumbled to a stop, Kal spun around, finding the VTOL in the middle of a flat spinning motion, bringing it just out of reach of the Rockbreaker as it reached the edge of the cliff. The dark-haired boy noted that the machine appeared to be opening its mouth, still, and he quickly raised his weapon, firing several rounds into its side, particularly targeting the exhaust vent on its back.

The machine let out a loud, rumbling sound in anger or pain and began to turn toward the two hunters, its red eyes focusing on them, instead of the VTOL. As it rounded on Fiy and Kal, it began to open its mouth, once again, and the two hunters quickly began to dart across the ground to their right, away from the drop off. The sounds of chunks of rock and sand spewing onto the ground came from behind them, but they proved to be just faster than the machine’s ability to turn, and they ultimately slowed to a stop as the onslaught came to a halt.

Whirling around, Kal let his rifle hang loosely across his chest before reaching for the sling at his belt, ripping one of the bombs from his vest and loading it.

“Exhaust vent,” he barked, taking aim before launching the glowing, blue projectile toward the machine.

As it landed, the container of chillwater burst across the metallic surface of the Rockbreaker, instantly turning it a frosty blue color as steam rose from the drastic shift in temperature of the desert. Almost immediately, Fiy opened fire on the same piece of the machine, her ammunition tearing through the weakened metal with ease until the vent finally seemed to collapse in on itself, the chunks of metal falling into the internal workings of the Rockbreaker.

As the vent collapsed, the machine recoiled, seemingly in pain, and black smoke began to spew from the destroyed opening. Despite this, its gaze refocused on the hunters and it turned to dive across the ground toward them, once again, propelling itself forward with its sharp claws. Fiy and Kal dove in opposite directions, with the brunette moving toward the tower, while Kal made his bid toward the more open ground of the hill nearby.

As he landed, he quickly rolled to his feet, once again, whirling to find the Rockbreaker had slid past him, but was trying to turn itself, despite its forward momentum still carrying it for several yards. Sparing a glance over his shoulder, he saw the other Rockbreaker had surfaced, as well, however the motion of two small figures near it told him all he needed.

Turning back to the machine before him, he loaded another chillwater bomb into his sling and took aim at one of its front feet. As soon as he loosed it, he noticed that the trajectory was off, and the bomb slammed into the side of the machine’s face, instead, which did little other than anger it, it seemed. Cursing under his breath, he reached for one of the explosive munitions on his vest and took aim at the same spot his previous projectile had landed.

This time, his aim matched and the explosion ripped through the frozen and weakened metal, sending a shower of broken parts, sparks, and smoke pouring onto the sand beside it. The Rockbreaker recoiled from the onslaught, shaking its head in pain, which allowed Kal the moment to launch another explosive into the hole that had formed in the side of its head.

The bomb met its mark, sailing inside the machine before detonating. Immediately, a plume of black smoke spewed from the Rockbreaker’s mouth as its feet seemed to claw feebly at the air before it for several moments. Along with the smoke, small tendrils of burning liquid seemed to spray from within, ignited by the fires of the explosion, until suddenly the machine seemed to falter and fall to the ground.

It continued to struggle feebly for several moments, but it seemed in no position to attack, once again.

Lana’s eyes flicked toward the plume of dark, black smoke in the distance, noting the felled machine, before returning her gaze to the one before her. Santi’s and her attacks were doing little to penetrate the outer armor of the Rockbreaker, while the frequent bursts of rock and rubble that it launched at them had come dangerously closing to hitting one of the girls multiple times.

Growling in frustration, Lana took aim at the exhaust vent on its back, but as soon as the first few rounds hit it, the machine twisted so that its armored head blocked her fire. Cursing loudly, she lowered her weapon, glancing toward Santi off to her right. The other girl had apparently taken the opportunity to fire on the similar vent on its other side, prompting the Rockbreaker to thrash back and forth, seemingly unable to decide which attacker to focus on.

Just then, it decided as it whirled on Santi and began to propel itself across the ground directly toward her.

“Move!” Lana shrieked, noting that the other girl was dangerously close to the drop off, with few choices of which direction to escape.

Santi seemed to realize this, as well, as she began scrambling toward Lana, away from the cliff face, as quickly as she could. The machine followed her path, opening its gaping maw of whirling death as it drew closer. Lana raised her weapon and began to take aim at any exposed portion of the machine she could, trying to throw it off its trajectory. Finally, her shots landed in its eye, sending a shower of sparks across the ground as the Rockbreaker finally lifted its head, letting out a loud, mechanical roar in pain.

As it suddenly brought its head back around, it slammed its body down on the ground, shaking it even from the distance Lana stood. For Santi, who was much closer, it was enough to cause her to lose her footing, sending her stumbling to the ground, face-first. Lana’s eyes widened as she began to race toward her, still firing blindly at the machine. Her gaze was hyper-focused on the olive-skinned girl in the sand, however, who was scrambling to roll onto her back, attempting to raise her weapon from the sand to bring it to face the machine behind her.

The sound of an echoing boom ringing across the open ground barely registered to Lana as she drew closer to Santi, but she ultimately released the trigger of her weapon when the empty click of its chamber told her that she had exhausted the ammunition in its cartridge. A moment later, she dropped into a slide, coming to a stop just beside the other girl and scrambling toward her, tugging on her vest.

“Come on, get up, get up,” she panted.

Santi tried to oblige, but Lana’s insistent tugging at her clothing actually proved to be more of a detriment than a help, as she seemed to struggle to find purchase. A moment later, the roar of the Rockbreaker drew their attention to it, once again, finding that it had turned its gaze to the two girls, its mouth widening as it prepared to spew more rocks and rubble. Just before it could, however, the sound of another loud boom echoed across the open ground and the machine jolted, lifting its head for a moment. As it did, Lana noted smoke pouring from its mouth, and she quickly reached for her weapon.

Ripping one of the explosives from her vest, she loaded it into the rear of the launcher affixed to the underside of her rifle. Taking aim at the open, smoking maw, she squeezed the trigger. A concussive thump sounded as the explosive burst from the barrel, sailing through the air before landing squarely in the throat of the machine.

It let out a shrieking, mechanical scream as Lana noted its motions growing more halting and jerky, several internal systems seemingly beginning to shut down. Suddenly, another loud blast ripped through the machine, as she now saw a hole appear through the inside of its mouth, where a living creature’s neck would be, and it seemed to final begin its death throes.

As it did, however, she caught flashes of bright orange amidst the black smoke. A moment later, the orange seemed to spray forward, splashing across the sand a few yards from the girls’ feet. Lana’s eyes widened as she quickly scrambled to pull Santi away from the machine, the other girl scrambling to push herself to her feet, as well. Before either of them could reach their feet, however, Lana noted another bout of flaming liquid spraying from the Rockbreaker’s mouth and she made a snap decision, diving forward to mostly cover Santi.

A moment later, she felt something slam into her back, followed soon after by the sensation of something incredibly hot against her. She let out a scream in surprise at the sensation, before quickly throwing herself off Santi and onto the sand, rolling across the ground. It seemed to do little to quench the burning, however, and she quickly shot to her knees, tearing at the straps to her vest.

The sounds of screaming came from nearby, prompting her to double her efforts to remove the straps, and a few seconds later, she managed to free it and shrugged the garment off her shoulders, throwing it aside. Even as she did, however, she could still feel the heat on her arm, and she glanced down to find the sleeve to her right arm showing signs of singing and smoke. She pat at it insistently for a moment, however, and found that the fabric seemed to be burning away, but the heat wasn’t nearly as intense.

The sounds of screaming before her brought her attention away from herself, however. As she lifted her gaze, she felt her heart seemingly come to a stop for a moment. Santi’s left arm seemed to be coated in thin layer of fire from just above her elbow to her forearm. Lana quickly dove forward, grabbing handfuls of sand from beside the other girl and dumping them on her arm. Santi’s screams of pain continued as Lana cursed loudly, shoveling more sand onto her arm until it was buried under a good several inches.

Lana pat at the mound for a moment or two before quickly digging it away, confirming that the flames had been doused, although a blackened, greasy substance still coated Santi’s skin. The other girl continued to scream obscenities and wordless sounds as she began to reach across her torso with her other arm.

“It’s out, it’s out,” Lana panted, before finally cursing, once again and reaching to rip her shirt over her head.

As she did, she used the fabric to vigorously scrub at Santi’s arm, noting the heat that still seemed to soak through the fabric under her hands. Finally, she seemed to have removed the substance, but as she surveyed the other girl’s arm, she could clearly see the reddened marks it had left behind.

“Oh fuck… fuck… fuck…”

Lana turned to Santi’s face, leaning over her and placing one hand on her shoulder.

“You’re gonna be okay, Santi, you’re gonna be okay,” she reassured, although her tone was shrill and wavering.

The other girl had stopped truly screaming, but she continued to let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a whine, her eyes clamped shut tightly. Lana rose to her knees beside Santi, glancing around wildly for signs of the other two, finally noting two figures rounding the far end of the downed Rockbreaker. She tapped at her Focus, bringing the interface to life around her.

“Santi’s hurt!” she screamed. “We need to get her out of here!”

“We’re coming,” Kal’s voice replied, distorted slightly through the Focus as Lana saw the two figures break into full runs.

“This is Stormbird Actual, is the landing zone clear?”

“Yes, we need a pickup, now!” Lana continued, her voice already sounding hoarse as she turned her attention back to Santi.

“Copy that, touching down.”

The auburn-haired girl barely heard the pilot’s last communication as her gaze hyper-focused on Santi’s face, once again, the other girl’s eyes open as she lifted her head to glance down at her arm.

“You’re gonna be okay, Santi,” Lana reassured again, swallowing heavily.

“Lana… fuck… hurts…” the olive-skinned girl moaned, leaning her head back in the sand, once again.

“I know…I know…”

A moment later, the other two arrived, skidding to a stop beside the girls on the ground and cursing under their breaths.

“What happened?” Kal asked.

“Rockbreaker,” Lana replied, sparing a glance back toward the machine. “Something… burning came from it…”

Kal’s jaw tensed as he stared down at the clear, angry burn on Santi’s arm before his eyes quickly scanned over his sister’s exposed arms, shoulders, and back, noting nothing of the same degree marking her. He glanced toward Fiy, who had stepped around them and was nudging what seemed to have been Lana’s vest, wisps of smoke still rising from it. The brunette frowned at it before glancing back at Kal.

“Not good,” she mouthed, prompting his lips to draw into a thin line.

Just then, however, the rumbling of the VTOL circling overhead drew their attention, the standing members of the group watching it touch own ten or so yards away, to avoid completely blasting them with the wash from its engines.

“C’mon, our ride’s here,” Kal said, crouching down beside Lana and Santi.

His sister nodded, and the two of them helped the other girl to her feet. As they walked toward the waiting craft, Fiy bringing up the rear with her weapon at the ready, just in case, he noted how Santi held her left arm as if it were dead weight at her side, her hand occasionally reaching to touch it, before pulling away.

When they finally entered the craft, Lana led Santi to a seat, strapping her in carefully, before rushing to the medical kit affixed to the wall near the cockpit entrance. Kal glanced around the interior of the craft before pausing, his brow creasing in confusion.

“Where’s Ahmed?”

His gaze fell on Junayd, who began shaking his head.

“Junayd… where’s Ahmed?”

“He fell,” the other boy finally said, looking up at Kal. “When that… _thing_ came at us… the VTOL dodged out of the way and… and he was right at the edge of the door…”

Kal’s lips pulled into a thin line for a moment before he drew a deep breath in through his nose.

“We’re all aboard,” he reported, tapping his Focus.

“Copy that, departing for Meridian. I’ve sent word that we’ll need medical attention at the landing site.”

With that, the craft began to lift off and Kal carefully grabbed hold of a bar that ran behind the head of the seats where Lana had situated Santi a moment ago, holding himself upright even as the ship tilted and turned. The auburn-haired girl quickly began to pour some salve from a container in the kit, turning to Santi and drawing a deep breath.

“This will sting.”

With that, she quickly began to rub it on the affected skin, prompting Santi to whimper loudly and close her eyes. Lana continued her work for several long moments, applying a generous layer of the salve before wiping the extra on her pants and reaching for some bandages. Within a few seconds, she had wrapped them about the other girl’s arm, covering her skin entirely from view. Kal watched as she reached behind her for something, but her hand only found empty air. She pat across the back of her belt for several moments before letting out a growl of frustration.

“Fuck!”

“What?”

“My knife,” she spat. “It was on the vest, not my belt. Fuck!”

Kal sighed, drawing his own from its sheath and offering it to her. Lana took it, using it to cut the bandages. Once they were tied in place, she sighed, hanging her head and handing the knife back to him.

“Mom is going to kill me for losing it…”

“No, she won’t,” Kal said, putting a hand on the back of her shoulders as he took the seat beside Santi. “She’ll be glad you and Santi came back alive.”

Lana sighed, heavily, once again, glancing up at Santi as the other girl reached to take one of her hands, gripping it in the hand of the arm that wasn’t wrapped in a numbing salve and bandages, squeezing it tightly. The olive-skinned girl offered her an attempted small smile, as Lana also attempted a similar expression in return.

“He’s right.”


End file.
